


Breaking Laws

by LadyShark



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Gore, Horror, Laboratories, M/M, Mpreg, this story is sick in so many ways, tokophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 04:46:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5483948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShark/pseuds/LadyShark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru never liked being the center of attention. But he never thought it was such a dangerous thing, till he catches the eye of the wrong people.</p><p>He could survive it. But it was not the only thing that mattered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A disturbance on calm waves

**Author's Note:**

> **Update 02/07/2016:** Story edited and rewritten because I am shit
> 
> For an year I tried to forget this fanfic, but it wouldn't stop haunting me, so ok I surrender. But I really didn't need to post this, I know.
> 
> At first it was just a wish to make an mpreg with a plausible reason, but a certain movie, a friend bothering me the whole biology class and a lot of stupid thoughts ended with this. I warn that there will be a lot of gross stuff. On an additional note I really, really apologize for putting in an original character, something that I myself dislike a lot, but the boys are just too pure to be villains. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy your read.

"I...I did it!"  
  
She didn’t mean to yell, but she couldn’t contain her happiness. The slender woman moved away from the desk where laid splayed the glasses and notes in which she focused minutes ago, and had to lean on the chair to not lose balance.  
  
The small room was all messy. She had no time to tidy it up on the last weeks, and it was not like she could ask for anyone to do it, since it was the place where it was kept researches that wasn't for the eyes of anyone. Now, it was a tremendous relief to look at the pile of notes and tests and think it was all worth it. Her project was almost finished.  
  
"Congratulations"  a small woman, her assistant, made a move to approach the exhausted scientist, but instead of relaxing she crossed the room excitedly, turning her back to the other woman.  
  
"Bring me him... "the request was almost inaudible, but the assistant heard and her eyes widened.  
  
"A-already? Doctor, I think it's not a good idea, do you remember what happened with our last experiment? He--"  
  
"It won’t happen again, I assure you. I need that boy; Bring him to me" she interrupted in a dangerous voice, a clear indicator that she wasn't interested in the possibility of things going wrong. The other woman hesitated, but complied.  
  
"Yes, Doctor"  she bowed and left the room.  
  
Alone, the scientist turned back on contemplating her desk. In the middle of the mess of papers and glasses, there was a small test tube, filled with a clear substance, which shinned gracefully reflecting the hazy light as she moved it on the palms of her hands. She had been working hard to obtain this; Obviously, thought, it wasn’t the only reason for all her excitement. All the experiences she made during all these years, was nothing compared to that. It was an old desire, she wanted it to be perfect and she was sure it would. Every step, every detail of the procedure thought with surgical precision, and the precious substance was all she needed to be finished with this last detail.  
  
Now there was only one last thing missing.  
  
She slid her finger across the glass, an evil smile taking her lips.  
  
"Finally, I will have you in my hands... Nanase Haruka."  
  
\--------------  
  
"Ah, today was tiring!" Nagisa chirped, hopping on the shower tiles.  
  
"Nagisa-kun, don’t jump on the wet floor"  Rei reprehended.  
  
"Indeed, my arms are hurting" Makoto laughed, amused at his blonde friend infinite energy. They were only two days apart from the municipal tournament, so the four boys of Iwatobi Swim Club were practicing more than ever. They had swam that whole evening, and just now, with the sun already setting, they had gone take a shower to get out the pool.  
  
Well, maybe they would have stoppedearlier, if it wasn’t for Haruka.  
  
"It was fun" Nagisa continued, sliding his head under the shower to wash away the rest of shampoo- but we won’t get any rest, will we? I heard Gou-chan saying she have a surprise for us.  
  
"Nagisa-kun, you were listening?" their manager appeared behind Nagisa, making him jump -and it’s not Gou, it’s Kou.  
  
"Is it true, Gou-kun?" asked Makoto.  
  
"Actually, it isn't exactly a surprise... I just thought about getting you guys to get a snack, as a reward for all the effort you have been making.  Of course, if you are not too tired today."  
  
"We will go" he smiled, sure that everyone would be happy to comply. However, the girl just shrugged and picked a thread of red hair between her fingers.  
  
"Is there something wrong, Gou-kun?" Rei poked in.  
  
"I-It’s that, well, it has been a while since you and my brother have seen each other so I thought it was a good idea to invite him to come along" the four turned when they heard the shampoo bottle hitting the floor.  
  
"Sorry" Haru’s voice came from behind them. He ignored the looks and started drying himself like if nothing had happened.  
  
"Just wait for us to get dressed, okay?" Makoto signed to the girl, who nodded and happily ran away. He couldn’t help but laugh at how bold she could be at certain things - her brother and Haru.  
  
As they finished showering and getting dressed, they followed Gou towards a small coffee shop she knew around. The sky wasn’t completely dark yet, what created a pleasant atmosphere, and they chatted so distractedly they barely noticed when a slender figure approached them on the street.  
  
"Rin-chan!" Nagisa jumped on the redhead as soon as he recognized the boy- ah, what a miracle for you to come along with us!  
  
"Hey, it's not like I always have time" Rin defended himself  "by the way, it isn’t like you guys always invite me...."  
  
"Because you are always ‘too busy’" Haruka reacted coldy. But instead of getting angry, the redhead grinned widely.  
  
"Are you jealous? Aww, Haru..."  
  
"I’m not. You just don’t need to always act like a drama queen."  
  
"Ah, Rin-chan, the tournament is after tomorrow!" Nagisa interrupted "you are going to participate, aren't you?"  
  
"Of course I will! You guys are better be prepared, huh? Let’s see if you are taking practice seriously" he teased, hooking his arm around the raven’s neck. Haru made a sound deep on his throat, but made no move on stopping him.  
  
\------  
  
 Rin breathed in the cold air, enjoying the night atmosphere while waiting for the rest of the gang. They had fun, the food was yummy and the place Gou choose was indeed comfy (according to Nagisa, it screamed Gou in every detail of it's colorful decoration). He had left enough money with his sister to pay for the everyone rent, made up a lame excuse of being too hot inside and left to his sister to handle. He didn't really feel like dealing with the "it's-not-fair" thing, and in truth he wanted to be a little alone.  
  
His head was feeling full. Even though he enjoyed being with his friends again, he couldn’t deny being with them again made his mind a big mess. As they never really put it into terms, he wondered now to which point he still had intimacy to get into their group issues and talk about their life. It bothered him. In the past, Rin wouldn't even stop to think if someone wanted his presence or not, he would simply do and get what he wants, but now, it was different. It felt so good to be back in track with them again.  He would feel like a piece of trash if he ruined things with them again, and well, he knew he couldn't really control himself when exasperation got over him.  
  
On the other hand, it showed to be more on his head than anything, as everyone seemed to act with him normally. Haru acted pretty cutely when he conforted him under the sakura tree, and well, he had missed him too...  
  
Shit these thoughts. And there laid another problem.  
  
Or his ego was really becoming a problem, or that guy was really a big threat to his sanity. It was something Sousuke had told him his whole life, but just now he recognized he maybe really needed to stop thinking about Him.  
  
Suddenly, Rin heard footsteps approaching him, and quickly shove the thoughts back to the depths of his mind.  
  
"Are you really okay with this?" Haruka said in the usual monotone voice, oblivious to everything that was going on inside of the shark's head.  
  
"Yeah. Not that this money is at all mine, but still. It's not bad to be generous once in a while."  
  
Haruka shrugged, but Rin felt his eyes linger on him a bit before turning away.  
  
"It don't looks much nice when you put it like this. Not like I would let you pay for me, anyway."  
  
Rin chuckled.  
  
"We're not competing on this, are we?" he was not sure what he expected to hear in response, but when the other just turned his head to the sky, he felt a small hint of frustration tingle on his chest. He wandered his feet on the pavement, felling his anxiety grow.  
  
"Hey, Haru.... is... everything, you know, ok now?"  
  
"Do you worry about this?"  
  
Rin bit his lip.  
  
"Geez, of course I do! Things happened, it's not like we can expect everything to keep being the same as when we were twelve, idiot."  
  
"It's not like we ever got along that nicely" oh, that bastard. But before he could think about punching Haru he continued- "but it's okay. That's how we are and I've accepted this."  
  
Rin eyes widened slighty. Haru kept facing the sky. The moonlight illumined his face, coloring him with a light blue. He looked... content.  
  
"Tsk..." Rin rubbed his neck - I will never understand you.  
  
"I can say the same for you" Haru turned to him, his eyebrows slight tilted in annoyance. For a moment, Rin wanted to laugh.  
  
"Hey, ya still haven't changed nothing, you know?" he teased, a smile reappearing on his face- I bet you didn't even grew more than a few centimeters, Haru.  
  
"Oi! Ah, then... I bet you still cry over nothing" Haru retorted, huffing, and Rin scowled, but a minute later, he couldn't contain himself and laughed. Them both looked away. A pleasant atmosphere embraced them. Haru felt a warmth within his chest. He was happy to see Rin smiling back like he used to. He felt like,finally, everything was back to its place.  
  
Free.  
  
"Haru, I... " The redhead opened his mouth, closing it soon after. Haru tilted his head in confusion. Rin turned serious before finding the right words to continue  -after the race, the day after tomorrow... let's hang out again. Just us two."  
  
Haru stared at him innocently. He blinked.  
  
"Wait, why you--" before Haru could reach for him, a flash of light all of sudden sparkled on the darkness beside them. They both froze.  
  
"What the f..."  
  
"It was a flash. Someone took a photo" Haru and Rin exchanged a quick glance. They looked to the roadside, to the thicket along it.  The only visible movement was from the wind moving the bushes lightly. Rin went mad.  
  
"Whoever is doing this, Is gonna stop" he stomped in the direction where came the flash, but in the moment he gave one step towards the plants, a figure jumped from the woods and ran to the back of the restaurant, disappearing into the night.  
  
"...What was that?" it took a moment till he spoke, and when he did, his heart was racy. Creepy, he thought, and he didn't needed to look at Haru to know he was thinking the same thing. The wind moved the plants again, light and slow.  
  
"I will go after it" Haru motioned to walk to the woods and Rin prepared to run after him, but a familiar voice called them and both stopped.  
  
"Rin-chan! Haru-chan!" Nagisa ran towards the duo- What are you two doing?  
  
"Nothing"  Haru simply lied, hurrying close to the group. Rin threw a hesitant glance to the woods, a shiver running it's way up his spine before he turned and followed them.  
   
\----  
  
 It was already late when Makoto and Haruka reached home. He opened the door carefully, and his mother on the couch smiled when she saw them.  
  
"Oh, it's late. I already made your bed, Haru. You can come up" her tone were calm as always, her smile almost identical as her son’s. Haruka find funny how mother and son could look so alike.  
  
Soon they were installed, Haru on the futon  with a pajama absurdly big on his body and Makoto on his bed. 

"Today...it was good, wasn’t it? I miss going out with Rin sometimes."  
  
"Yeah" Although Haruka was short as usual, Makoto noticed a small agitation on his voice. He rolled on the bed go face the other boy.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Did Something happen between you two...?"  
  
Haruka feel silent. His fingers fidget with the border of the covers, and even in the darkness of the room Makoto could see a different shade crept over his cheeks...  
  
He laughed out loud.  
  
"What's so funny?" Haruka asked angrily. Makoto adjusted on the bed, grinning widely.  
  
"You are getting pretty well along now, uh?"  
  
A pillow hit Makoto's face and he fell back, laughing even more. Haruka leaned in to grab it to hit his friend again, despite laughing too blushing furiously - "Shut up!"  
  
"But I didn't say anything" he tried to shove his friend aside and get up again, but when his eyes fell on his Haru's face, there wasn't anymore signs of fun or happiness on it. He seemed lost in thought and... worried. Makoto opened his mouth to say something, but when Haru noticed his stare he quickly broke the contact and crawled back to the futon.  
  
"...Haru?"  
  
"Shush. Let's sleep."  
  
Makoto watched Haru's back. Now he was concerned. He stood there a bit, waiting to see if he really won’t say anything more, and when he didn't, he laid back too and manage to try to sleep.  
  
"We... will swim a lot tomorrow, won't we?" he insisted, just to get one more reply.  
  
"...Yes."  
  
 Makoto turned and managed to sleep. As he heard him start softly snoring, Haru slowly turned to watch his friend. He didn't want to worry Makoto. He knew him from all people was the one to get most easily scared, and he wouldn't concern him because of such a small thing as the earlier incident. It was just that it made him uncomfortable. He refused to admit he was scared, he was just.... uneasy.  He was a 17 years old, it wasn't like he would get afraid for such a thing. Plus, maybe it was only his imagination. That and the fact he noticed some strange guys watching him on the coffe shop. People could be really a nuisance sometimes, but it had happened before, and it was never a big deal.  
  
He dropped his head on the pillow and forced himself to sleep. But it took a long time until he feel asleep that night.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank for reading till there. The characters might go ooc because I still have some trouble picturing their reactions at some things, but I will do my best to keep their personalities.


	2. Don't talk to strangers

The days passed by, and the tournament came. To the Iwatobi team happiness, all the effort they made proved to be worth it: they had all completed their races and Makoto and Nagisa won a medal (Not gold, but still a good result). Now just the freestyle race was left. Haru was on the locker room preparing himself when Rin approached him.

 

"Oi, Haru!"

 

"Rin" Haru's voice had no more emotion than it was usual, but his eyes were already showing excitement to see his favorite rival.

 

"I want you to give your everything today, uh?" Rin poked him playfully, making Haru lean back on the locker.

 

"I don’t play with the water."

 

"I know. And I, will make sure to mark this day on your memory" he grinned, showing his pointy teeth, and Haru's only reaction was to look away, face heating up slightly. Apparently, Rin had forgotten what he said last night about wanting to hang out with him after the race. Good, he thought. That would be embarrassing.

 

"See you at the pool, Haru."

 

Haruka watched Rin’s back move away. He stood there for a while, feeling a small bit of annoyance at how complicated the redhead had to be. He pushed his clothes inside the locker and sat down on the bench with the intention to wait till the moment to go to the arena.

 

Lost in thought, his eyes wandered across the room, not really paying attention anywhere, till his unfocused gaze happened to fell on a man that was, for some reason, also facing him. When Haru's vision fell back on focus, he was startled to see that he was staring intently at him, and apparently for a long time, since when the unknown man noticed he got caught, his eyes widened and he hurried to look away. Haru furrowed his brows.

 

What was happening? He had been noticing weird things those last weeks. Maybe it was paranoia, but he imagined having saw people watching him on the market, and he was almost sure someone followed him the other day when he headed back home. Haru never liked being the center of the attention, but for his distaste, his talent and appearance always made him attract looks everywhere he goes, and even some not-so-discreet whistles- from both sexes, to his horror. Makoto kept saying he shouldn’t bother, but at this rate it was just very uncomfortable.

 

But he shoved these thoughts aside. There were only a few minutes left for the race and soon, he would be on his beloved water. But even trying to focus on the liquid embracing his body, knowing that he would be in the center of the whole stadium in the next minutes wasn’t exactly a good way to feel comfortable right now.

 

\-------

 

The result of the race was expected. Still, the Iwatobi team commemorated like if it was the first time their teammate won a race.

 

 _I feel kind of sorry for the other swimmers competing with these two..._ Rei smiled a little seeing the other competitors leave the pool heads down. Rin, on the other hand, seemed not even a bit disappointed for having reached second. He squeezed Haru and smiled widely, looking even happier than the actual winner. Haruka, of course, showed any special enthusiasm, but if someone looked closely they would see a discreet gleam of satisfaction on his eyes.

 

"Haru, we are heading to the car" Makoto said "we gonna wait for you there, ok?"

 

"Ok" Haruka nodded. He entered the locker room, lazily putting his towel aside to take a quick bath before getting dressed, complaining to himself how annoying it was to put clothes back. To take them off, it was not troublesome at all.

  

When Haru looked around, he realized he was the only one there. Oh, He should have spent too much time on the bath again. A part of him expected to see at least Rin, but apparently, he too had already went home.

 

Finishing buttoning his shirt, he left. The building was empty as he walked through the halls. However, when he reached the corridor, he saw a group of boys leaning against the walls. Four, three of them seeming older than him. At another time, he would have ignored them and kept his path, but he stopped when he noticed one of them was the same who had been watching him earlier.

 

"Hey, you were the winner of the freestyle race, weren’t you?" the guy approached him " congratulations, man!"

 

"You were incredible! I never saw something like that before" another jumped in eagerly "you almost lost to that redhead dude, though, but you still managed to win. So cool."

 

Haruka didn’t know what to answer, so he kept silence. It was embarrassing to receive these compliments, specially when he felt they were not so honest. He wanted to leave this annoying situation as soon as possible. He passed his eyes on all of them carefully, not changing his expression.

 

"I saw you two on the locker room. Sorry for the indiscretion" the first boy continued- "You two are very close friends, aren't you? That’s why your times are so synchronized."

 

Haruka shrugged it off. He motioned to pass through them, but one of them stepped in front of him and prevented him from doing so.

 

"Wait a bit, Nanase, isn't it? It's early to go home. We would like to know you a little better, right, guys?"

 

Haruka turned. The four guys had formed a circle around him. He scolded himself mentally for not having left earlier.

 

"Hey, hey, don’t worry" the guy watched blue eyes move nervously from each one of them  before moving closer "we won’t harm you. Really."

 

Haruka shoved him so hard that he lost balance, but before he reached the ground, one of the man grabbed him, covering his mouth. He kicked furiously, but couldn't free himself, as the other two moved to help holding him.

 

Haru's heart raced. He wasn’t weak, he knew it, but fighting four older man was completely out of question. It wasn't like he knew how to fight; the closer he ever get from it in his life was his arguments with Sousuke, and not only it was completely different from the situation he was in now like this time he couldn’t even ask for help. No one would hear him.

 

It made his fear senses light up like never before.

 

He struggled again, but all he managed to do was give an muffled groan.

 

"Calm down mate, we won’t hurt you" one of them provoked. For his surprise, the glare Haruka shot them had no submission or fear, only fury.

 

The guy laughed nervously. That's why she wanted him so much. This boy surely was something _special._

 

"Release his mouth" he took something from his jacket. Pills, Haru recognized- "now, be a good baby and--"

 

As soon as the hand left his face, a scream burst from Haru's throat so loud that the man jumped back, but he was shut by an punch on the back of his head. For some reason, everyone released him and he hit on the ground with a dull noise. He could hear them yelling at each other, but couldn’t anymore figure out the words. He was dizzy from the hit, but still tried to get up and run, before one grabbed him by the hair and forced the pill down his throat. He tried to resist, to spit out, but the guy kept the hand firm on his mouth and he had no choice.

 

Haruka leaned his head back on the ground. It hurts. A lot. He still opened his eyes in time to see the men holding a black thing on his direction.

 

_What are they going to do to me?_

 

 --------

 

"He is taking too long..." Makoto said, worried.

 

"Couldn't he be on the bathroom...?" Nagisa meant it seriously, after all. They were all outside the van waiting for Haruka, but he seemed to never come.

 

"Guys...isn’t better to go there and see if he’s alright?" Rei was anxious, the worry evident on his eyes. But before they could go back to the building, the janitor appeared.

 

"Hey, kids, it’s time to go. We have to close the place."

 

The four swallowed dryly. Indeed, they were the only ones on the parking.

 

"B-but--!!" Makoto already bordered despair. He wouldn’t left his friend behind in any way!

 

"Makoto-senpai, there's not anyone left inside, let’s go. Maybe he’s with my brother. Their races were the last ones, after all..."

 

"It’s true, they should have gone somewhere together, right? They wouldn’t warn us, that’s so like them" Nagisa jumped in to help Gou, himself already calming a bit with the possibility.

 

Makoto hesitated, but had to give up. They entered the car and left the place.

 

Makoto quietly prayed for Gou to be right. Meanwhile, Nagisa seemed distracted with something out of the window.

 

"What’s it?" Gou asked.

 

"We aren’t the only ones late" he pointed to a group of young boys, carrying several bags on a car, in the middle of these a big black sack.

 

"You’re right...that man should have just warned them too." Gou nooded "They can’t be very fast with all those bags."

 

Rei was just sulking on the seat, immersed on his thoughts. Even thought Haru being with Rin made some logic, a part of him found hard to believe in it.

 

For some reason, this logic didn't seem alright.

 

What happened to Haruka?

 

 

 


	3. Captured

When Haruka woke up, he immediately feel a big pain on his head. Subtly, the last events before he passed out crossed his head, making him wake in a jump.

  _Where...I am?_ As he scanned the place with his eyes, the first thing he noticed being that he was in some kind of room, dark and small. He was on the center of it, laying on a metal bed, it and a worn chair being the only furniture on the room. His clothes have been changed, and now he wore simple white t-shirt and shorts- coming from where, he had no idea. Cautiously putting himself in a sitting position, he stared at the ceiling, to the dirty light bulb from where came the only weak and yellow light that illuminated the room. The atmosphere was quite claustrophobic and the air smelled of mold, but contrasting with it all, the bed was surprising soft. He palmed the sheets around him, looking for anything that could give him a clue of the place he was, but there was nothing- all he noticed was that they seemed to be new, or at least, not used often. No windows on the walls, no painting, only two doors. He stayed silent for a minute, waiting to see just if he heard something, but there was no signal of anything nor anyone.

He pushed himself up, proceeding to watch his own body to make sure it haven’t been made anything wrong with it, what, fortunately, he found was not the case. He sighed in relief. Carefully, he walked towards the door, startling himself a bit when he accidentally kicked the cold metal of the bed. It wasn't a surprise to find out it was locked.

 _So I am locked here, uh?_ But on the second one, he trembled a bit when the door handle gave in under his fingers, revealing what seemed to be a bathroom. It was simple, with only a toilet on the corner and a big wooden tub that probably was for bathing, but he felt his heart accelerate, not only because he was desperate to take a bath, but because on his understanding, this place didn't seem prepared to keep someone by accident.  

Closing the door, Haru sat on the bed again, trying to let the facts sink in. Was he kidnapped by those boys? It was what it looked like, though he had to admit, this place was cleaner than expected. But why would they do it? If they were really swimmers, they could be wanting some kind of information or sabotage, but if they were criminals, he doubted there was much he could give them. His family wasn't rich, and he doubted he could mean an interesting ransom for them. Anyway, in general he managed to keep quite calm. Like his grandma always said, despair would never help you out of these situations. These guys would came back at some point, say what they wanted, and if he didn't react much and gave what they ask for probably he would come home with not much worse than a few scratches. 

That's was right, wasn't it?

 He sighed.

What his friends should be doing right now? They were waiting for him to come back after the race, and he didn't. They should be worried. In fact he didn't have a minimal idea of  how long he had been gone. He wandered his finger by the messed sheets, a part of him hoping for the bandits to come soon.

 Suddenly, a noise came from the door handle, making Haru jump. He raised his body defensively, waiting for the door to be open.

 But to his surprise, what entered the room wasn't the same guys who attacked him- actually, it wasn't even like anything under his expectations. He thought criminals usually looked like armed brutes, but a woman wearing a lab coat accompanied by two men looking more studious than dangerous was definitely not yet on his definition of 'criminal'. She looked quite elegant, but Haru instantly felt something unsettling about her, being specially annoyed by the weird smile on her lips.

The woman walked around the bed, watching Haru like if he was an interesting toy.

 "My, my, you woke up fast" her voice was mature and melodic, but Haru imagined that if she laughed, her voice would sound identical of a witch of some kids cartoon "I was afraid the medicine was too strong for you, but apparently, you accepted it pretty well."

 Haruka lowered his head and glared at her.

"Who are you?" despite the irritation he felt, his voice managed to sound calm. She seemed slightly surprised in hearing him talk, but the surprise was quickly replaced with amusement.

 "I'm Victoria, pleased to met you. Boy, you really are handsome! I knew you were a special one, but like this, personally, is too different from though a blurred picture" she hovered above the bed frame, eyeing him head to toe. Haru confusion worsened even more.

_Picture?_

 Suddenly, realization fell over him and his irritation grew.

"So it was you..." She made no motion to answer his growled accusation, but gave a satisfied smirk as if she approved his insight. "What do you want from me?"

 "Relax. I'm not sure yet you will serve for my purposes, so... we will make some tests. But it won't hurt you" It was obvious that he had no reason to believe her.

 "Well, so let's take that doubt away" by the woman's order, the men behind her moved, and Haruka stood up the moment they took steps closer the bed. The minute one of them took a needle off his coat, he forgot everything he had thought about not reacting and jumped to the door in trying to flee, but just as he was about to reach it, one man grabbed his head and pushed him harshly against it, closing the door with his weight and getting Haru pinned onto it. Haru was completely frozed. He struggled, feeling the needle pinching at his skin.

 The feeling of being watched all those last days hadn't been a lie of his instincts. But as Haru's guesses of why such a thing was happening to him kept empty, a weird feeling, that there was something very, very wrong about to happen, started to grow within him.


	4. Where you at?

"Ah, Haru-chan, where are you...?" Nagisa muttered aloud, leaning his chin on the palm of his hands. There has already passed midday, and still there was no sign of Haruka. They all had gathered at the swimmer's house, in hope he would come back at any time. But the more time passed, the more their worry grew. Nagisa kept looking at the clock anxiously, like if it could make him magically appear. Finally Gou, who had left some hours ago, barged into the room panting. Apparently, she had been running till the train station to there.

 

"Guys, my brother doesn't know anything..."

 

"Ehh..." Everyone went silent. Makoto swallowed dry. Haru had disappeared before, but nothing like now. For him to be taking so long... however, he hadn't much time to think about it, because on the next second Rin was entering the room, serious as he always acted when he was trying to keep cool, but worry clear as water on his eyes.

 

"Haru disappeared?"

 

"Since yesterday, Rin-san. " Rei explained  "We finished our races and he went to take a shower, then we simply don't saw him anymore. We thought he could have gone somewhere with you, but apparently, wasn’t the case.

 

Rin 's face darkened with contained confusion and fear, and he lowered his head.

 

"Shouldn't we warn the police...?" Gou suggested.

 

"I-isn't it a bit early? Do you think it's really case of...?" Makoto stopped. He wasn't thinking it could be a situation of such gravity till now, but...

 

An awkward silence set between them, any of them knowing right what to do. Makoto was at an impasse. He didn't want to think it could be something bad, but if it was, then they needed to take measures as soon as possible. But it could be too just a matter of waiting some more...

 

Suddenly, Nagisa screamed.

 

"AAAH!!!  I'm gonna go crazy if it stays like this! Let's go out and search for Haru-chan!"

 

"Nagisa-kun is right. Who knows, maybe we are worrying for nothing." Rei agreed, thought still a bit uncertain. Still it was truth they had nothing better to do.

 

"Ok then, look for places Haruka-senpai might be. We meet here again by the afternoon, ok?"

 

\-----------

Rin came back to the dorm late at night, when the only noise was from one or another student turning the shower off . He, however, made a lot of noise when he opened the door roughly and stormed inside the room, throwing his stuff near his desk.

 

"Someone's angry today?" Sousuke voice came from the top bunk, not bothering to tear his eyes away from the magazine he was reading.

 

"Mind your own business" Rin retorted angrily, regretting a minute later because he needed someone to vent to "It was Haru, Sousuke. We can't find him, since yesterday, after the tournament, no one saw him. He simply... vanished."

 

He sat down on the bottom bed, running his hand trough his hair in frustration. Sousuke leaned over the grid, leaving the magazine aside.

 

"It's weird. Are you sure he didn't run away with some chick or something?"

 

"Haru isn't that kind of boy, Sousuke."

 

"Ah, true, forgot that guy is an obsessed water freak that probably has it as his sexuality. Well then, you should not worry, he must come back soon. Must be another attack of fussiness of him."

 

Rin shot Sousuke a glare, but had no strength to start an argument. He was so tired.

 

"I'm being serious here, your asshole. I know you don’t give a shit about him, but that 'obsessed water freak' is my friend, and he is missing, do you understand? Do you have a bit of an idea what this can mean?"

 

Sousuke's expression changed, and he seemed a bit concerned about the redhead state. He got down the bunk bed so he could look at him properly-  "Sorry, it wasn’t my intention to upset you. Mm.....have you looked at pools around the city? Nanase likes swimming, maybe..."

 

"They looked there. He wasn't on any place we searched on." Rin dismissed Sousuke silly attempt to help.

 

Damn. Where did Haru got himself into? He heard Haru had already done a similar thing on the past, going to swim late at night without warning anyone, but damn, why they couldn't find him now? At least, he shouldn't be taking that much. It was so egoist from his part.

 

Rin clenched his fists. _Damn._

 

 Sousuke stood for a minute, watching Rin's hand slightlystart to shake. He got up back to his bed, knowing anything he could say could help his friend. Haru wasn't a person he knew.

 

 _When you show up,_ _I will personally go kick your butt, Nanase,_ Sousuke thought to himself, and went to sleep.

 


	5. Hunger

After almost a whole day after being kidnapped, locked in a weird place for a reason he had no idea why, a deep worry was starting to get on Haru. If anything were happening like he would expect of a criminal act, with big guys pointing him guns and shouting threats, maybe he would not have this unsettling feeling on the base of his spine, but what he had was not a single bit like he expected _._

After some hours left to wait in the darkness of the room, the same two man had came back and taken him to another place, this one being completely different from the one he had been kept. It had shelves and books scattered around everywhere, as well as test tubes and other objects he swore belonged to scientific series only. Maybe Rei knew what was all those things, Haru thought, but he not. A metal desk took space on a corner, the closest thing Haru remembered to can relate to it being the desk of the vet he went with Makoto to take a stray cat one day. It was on it that Haru was threw on.

Ok, He thought he was starting to understand the situation he was. He was a dog.

However, as if that treatment wasn't enough to make him upset, the hands of that man were only serving to further increase his irritation. The big man hovering over him seemed to have so much fun watching Haru flinch as he touched and analyzed every single inch of his body. With his hands tied, Haru couldn't act on his enormous desire to kick this guy on the face, so all he could do was endure it and do his best to not show any reaction that could make the man's grin go wider. Haru shivered as his fingers wandered by his chest and stomach, pressing slightly.

"Good boy. You are perfect" the man gave a provoking pat on Haru's tight before backing away. Haru cringed away the further he could go on the shining surface. The same weird woman, who had till now been observing them on distance, came closer to them.

"This baby is too pretty, isn't he? **"** She wandered her hand across his shoulder and hair, and Haru recoiled at the intruding touch.

"What are you planning to do?" Them both seemed surprised hearing Haruka speak "Say it soon."

"Whooa, you're quite full of yourself, aren't you, boy?" The man walked towards him like a panther, but the woman stopped him.  

"He's just a kid, let him be. I'm gonna take him back to his cell, maybe it's only tiredness" Suddenly Haru was being grabbed by the arm and forced onto his feet. He pulled back, but received a harsh push on his back and would have fell if he wasn't being held by the woman.

She headed him back to the dark room and pushed him inside. Without having how to move his arms, Haru fell on the ground, but more than fast recovered and pushed himself up to face her.

"Quit playing! Who the hell are you and what is this place?" he growled, but the woman seemed not impressed by his intimidation attempt.

"You are ill-bred, aren't you? I thought I have introduced myself to you."  Haru glared at the ironic response. "Too bad you're tied, uh? The little bird wants to escape."

"I don't have anything to give you. Nor money, nor anyone you can blackmail" He had his friends, but he really hoped she wasn't intending to involve them.

"Don't waste your brain cells trying to guess things, dear. Soon, you will know."

"Go to hell!!" Haru yelled, his patience running dry "How long are you planning to keep me there? Say what you want already!"

"So rude. Do you think swearing will take you anywhere? While you keep behaving like this, you stay here."

She shut the door with a loud noise, leaving Haru alone. When his rage slowly started to fade, he noticed he was trembling slightly.

Perfect. He didn't know if he had improved or worsened his situation.

Haru slowly crawled to the door and, with some difficult, put himself sitting with his back onto it. He was now more lost than ever. He knew absolutely nothing of the reason he was being captive. Truth to be told, he thought kidnapping was more... simple? If it was not money, what could them want? He hadn't lied, he had no money nor anything special that could attract attention from criminals. Plus, till now he hadn't saw any sign of guns or other illicit objects, unless the colorful substances on the other room were some kind of drugs. He tried to imagine what could be done with those stuff on his situation, and what he got didn't encouraged him any up.

However, what weirded him out the most was how some things here were reminding him of an hospital. What was with that need to dress everyone in white? Apparently, he figured out, what those men did the previous day (or it has been just some hours?) was to collect his blood. But why?

 Haru felt stupid. Shout at criminals wasn't a thing he should do. In the next minute he could have a gun on his head and die right here, without doing anything more. Without even swimming one last time.  

What a shitty way to die.

He curled his back trying to find a more comfortable position, but suddenly, the door was bluntly opened again, and he was kicked out to ground for the second time. That woman slipped into, making Haruka almost dig a hole on the wall to try to get further away from her. As seeing the way he glared at her, she moved away to give him some space "It's okay, I just bring you something to eat. You must be hungry, mustn't you?" She put onto the bed a big plate with food. It smelled not bad, Haru had to admit.

"C'here, I will release your hands."

"Don't wanna" Haru shook his head. The woman seemed confused for a second.

"Uh?"

"Won't eat. Don't want to" Haru made the strongest look he could manage to, aware thought he probably looked like a kicked puppy, since he had not eaten anything since before the tournament and was **starving**. But he won't give in. The mocking tone just reappeared on her face.

"Ok. I will let this here. When the hunger finally kicks in, I guess you won't need your hands to eat anyway."

"Wai---...!!" Realizing the stupidity he had just done, Haru jumped to the door, but the woman was faster in closing it and almost hit it on his face. Haru leaned his head on the wood and slowly let it slip down, gritting his teeth on frustration.

Damn.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing has been feeling like a drag for me lately. I have this story sketched on my stuff till around chapter 10, but since I'm needing to translate and rewrite almost everything, my bad mood still affects the final result. I have a deep admiration for all fanfic writers in this world.
> 
> Opinions and commentaries are aalways welcome. If you leave a feedback I swear I will hug you so tightly I might break one rib ;--;


	6. Restless night

 Rei couldn’t sleep. He spent the night rolling on the bed, worrying about his senpai. He turned on the bed for what seemed like the thousandth time, his body terribly uncomfortable after a whole restless night. The window had already began to light up and he managed to get not much more than sporadic slumber between long periods of wide awake overthink.

Although it hurt to admit, at this point he had no big expectations on Haru whereabouts. He was afraid to even think about it, but all this time absent in his head could only mean one thing: something bad happened. Even if the person concerned were Haru and he was the most probable to do something out of sudden and without any warn. But if the rest of his friends still had hopes,  Rei lacked courage to tell them logic went in a whole different way.

He pressed his face into the pillow. At this moment, who knows what could be happening to his beautiful senpai. He hated to even think about that, but he could have been kidnapped. And when a person is kidnapped, even more someone as beautiful as his senpai, they could be victims of  slavery, rape or... God, he shouldn't be thinking these things. He just hoped Haru was okay.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed. Lazily, he picked it up, putting his glasses onto his face and wincing as the light of the screen blinded his eyes.

_“Rei-chan, are you awake?”_

He frowned a bit.

_“If you don't think I am, then don't message. But I am anyway. It’s not like I can sleep.”_

_“Are you worried about Haru-chan?”_

Rei felt a bit offended at how oblivious Nagisa sounded. It was not like a case of a lost dog.

_“Obviously I am, Nagisa-kun. It can be serious.”_

_“I know. I couldn’t sleep, either.”_ Rei immediately felt guilty by his last thought. “ _What if we make a plan to find him, like in the movies?”_

 _"Nagisa-kun, I don't know what you think is happening, but it's a bad sign when someone vanishes like that, Haruka-senpai might be needing help, but what if we are not in condition of helping him, it can be something much worse than we can solve, and..."_  Rei stopped when he noticed he had typed too much and had hit the word limit. He took a deep breath. It wasn't his intention to worry his friend, but the thoughts were bothering him so much he thought he might just suffocate if he didn't let them out to someone _._

_"By the way, what do you mean as 'making a plan?'”_

_"Well, I was here thinking. Haru-chan didn't show up after he went to the locker room, but nothing says he left the club. What if he hadn't left?"_

_"But at this time, he would have already came home, Nagisa. This makes no sense."_

_"I know. That's only an example. The case is that we don't know what happened to him. Buuut, clubs does have cameras!"_ Rei felt an weird sensation tingle on his stomach. _Oh, it was right..._

_"That means if we get the recordings, we will what happened to Haru-chan, Rei-chan, isn't it right?"_

Rei didn't stop to reply. Hurredly, he fumbled trough his contact list, his fingers trembling so much it made it hard to see the small letters on the phone screen. He brought the phone to his ear so fast he almost dropped it, and waited what seemed like an eternity till the other line finally answered.

"Hello?" a tired voice answered from the other side of the line. Apparently somebody else was, too, lacking sleep.

"Makoto-senpai, I...no, I mean, we--!" He cut himself out, taking a deep breath to calm himself down otherwise the other really wouldn’t understand  nothing of what he was trying to saying - "The camera recordings. Of the day of the tournament, if we get it, then we will find what happened to Haruka-senpai!"

He heard a small silence, followed by a surprised gasp signing the other had finally understood what he meant, and it took a while till the voice came again, but this time in a different tone.

"Rei... Can you met me at the station in twenty minutes? I know who can help us."

 ------

 Haru spent the night sitting on the corner of the dark room, not asleep but not really awake. He napped lightly a few times, hanging in a state between dream and consciousness, but the smallest noise were enough to put him into an alert state. His body hurt after so many time in the clumsy position, but even being aware there's a bed he could use, he wouldn’t risk falling into a deep sleep and being even more helpless. As if the discomfort wasn't enough, he was freezing, and the hunger had worsened a lot. That place was incredibly cold. He had no notion of time because there was nothing that could serve as reference, and for some reason, for most time he couldn't hear anything. The only noise he heard that break the peculiar silence, were distant footsteps, twice and sparsely. He didn’t know right what he hoped for, for them to come and give him something to occupy his mind or let him stay alone.

Giving up on sleep, he stretched his body the best he could in the clumsy position. He looked at his surroundings. He just felt confused and bored the more the time passed. Not only about what his surroundings were, but about the reason of his captivity, that refused to appear. As much as he thought, he couldn't imagine a reason for it. To be getting under a body analysis, he thought about organ traffic, but the thought of it happening with him seemed... surreal.

Suddenly, his ears caught a small sound. Steps again. Distant, on the corridor, but this time they became louder and closer. He tilted his head, hearing a small chatter too. He didn't recognize the voices and the words were too mixed to understand, but as it kept coming closer his head suddenly shot up as he recognized a familiar name.

The door clicked open and a unknown man entered, finding Haru staring at him eye wide. The man seemed surprised for a bit, but slowly took an step forward.

This person was different. His clothes were the closer to "normal" he thought he would ever get to see there, a plain black shirt with military printed loose pants, and what looked like a flu mask covering half of his face. He seemed to not be much older than Haru himself, and he observed his features carefully in try to remember if he was one of his attackers back at the swim club, however, he didn’t remember all of their faces. The most important, though, was that he had _food._

The man put a plate with a sandwich and a banana on the bed and moved to untie Haru's hands, doing it with more roughness than necessary and backing away soon after, giving his captive some room to approach the food.

"Doctor said you need to eat" he said as Haru made no move to get the food "Eat it. It's nice."

Haru frowned. A bit annoyed, the man took a step forward and parted the bread with his hands, moving the mask away to put a piece of it on his mouth- "see? There no venom on it."

Keeping a careful gaze on the guy, Haru quickly approached the bed and grabbed the plate, coming back to his corner. He could have thought better, but he was so hungry that well, eating a bit couldn't hurt.

Haru didn't let it pass without notice the way he referred to them as 'doctors'.

"‘Makoto’" He voiced out between a bite, turning the man’s attention to him  "... who is...?"

"Ah, it’s the tall, big guy. The doctor. You were listening?" Haru made no reply. So ironic, one of his kidnappers had the same name as his best friend. He shook his head in disbelief as he took another bite of the sandwich, scrunching his nose a bit when remembered the guy had put his hands onto it.

As Haru made no signal of moving away from the place he was, the man sat down on the bed. He seemed to be slightly uncertain of something and kept shooting Haru glances. It made him uncomfortable, but instead of being upset he  turned his head to observe him too. On his clothes there wasn't any contour that could hide a gun, but he was carrying a bag. Haru avoided his gaze the moment he noticed the man was staring back at him, but made sure to not let his guard down.

"Hey... " Haru turned again at the sudden call. The man eyed him head to toe. "how old are you?"

"17."

The man nodded. Haru remained his eyes on the man with a puzzled look, and this time it was him who looked to the side in order to avoid Haru's gaze. _Weird_.

"Why do you kidnap people?" Haru questioned. The guy seemed to ponder his question a bit before answering.

"I don't think I can say to you. But does this really matter?"

"I want to know what I'm doing here."

"Ah, I don't know." He made a pause, but Haru kept looking at him like if he waited a more complete answer. " I'm not the best person you can ask. I could give you an idea, but to be honest, looking at you I would tell any of the options I could say do apply. "

Haru raised an eyebrow.

"You are... a lil different, let's put it like this? I really don't know."

The room went silent. Haru sighed. No progress. He wondered why to make it such a secret if he was already here (and tied) in first place. This guy was quite talkative, so it would be easier to get some information from him, but it was still being laborious.

"So you work here and don't ask anything? A great puppet you are, it sounds like" The man’s eyebrows furrowed at the provocation.

"You better not forget you are a prisoner, dude."

"You can’t blame someone for a destiny they didn’t choose" Haru turned back to the plate, realizing he wouldn't get anything more from him. He wanted to say he wasn't under anything yet, that he would still get out there, but it doesn't mattered anyway. He was still hungry, and he still didn’t ate the banana.

The room fell in silence. Seemingly slightly frustrated his prisoner was more interested in the fruit than in continuing the conversation, the man started rummaging through his bag. Haru threw a quick look with the corner of his eyes and caught him just in the time to see a small pot and needle being filled with it's content. Haru's eyes widened, and he tensed up.

"Oh, don't be scared. It's only a remedy" the man noticed Haru's agitation "if you are finished eating, come here."

"What is it?? I won’t take anything!" Haru raised his voice, pushing himself against the wall.

"It's not made to hurt"  Haru saw his eyes narrow behind the mask "But it can if you don't comply"

"Stay away!" Haru growled. The guy took a step forward, and he stood up. He pierced his eyes deep within his, warning him to not come any close. Ok, zero experience in physical fighting, but he knew how to keep people away. It seemed to work at first, as the man seemed to not know what to do as Haru showed no fear, but it didn't last much. He didn't attacked blindly thought, instead carefully studying Haru, and that was where his luck laid. He had to think fast. As the man was busy looking for some gap, blue eyes faltered, and before the man could noticed Haruka delivered a punch into his face. The guy's instinct was to grab Haru’s collar and try to pull him down with him, but Haru was faster positioning his hands on his chest and slamming him against the wall. The man fell on the floor, and Haru took the chance to charge out of the door, but when he reached the corridor, he stopped.

 In front of him, the same man who had 'analyzed' him was standing, and Haru _petrified._

"My, my, what are you doing there?" the giant man chuckled, and Haru gave a step back " In a desperate act, Haru tried to jumped and pass through the small gap between him and the corridor, but it was too narrow and in the next second he was being grabbed and dragged back to the cell by force.

 _Damn, he's strong._ Even though he fought, he couldn't manage to free himself. Haru was threw onto the bed. Pinning him down, the big man lowered his mouth close to his ear, blowing a hot breath on it to watch the boy shiver below him- Miggs, can you give me the needle?- Haru jerked again, but the man kept a firm grip on him and applied the injection like if he was weaker than a puppy.

Haru jolted to the opposite side of the bed as soon as his arm was released, but was pulled back to have his arms tied again. Haru kept his eyes glued to the messed sheets, breathing raggedly as he didn't dare to change the position he was left in. His bangs covered his eyes. His skin felt cold.

The younger man who had till now been just watching the scene approached him. He leaned closer to Haru's clumsy form, whispering into his ear so only he could hear.

"I really don't know what will happen to you, but I have one tip. If 'Makoto' gets to be the one to take care of you, 'ya better find a way to stop breathing first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A month to update. What a good writer I am.
> 
> At least, I tried to make this chapter longer. I really feel like my characterization is being ooc, so if you have any tip, please tell me! (why of everyone I choose Haru to write *cries*). I plan to get to the real thing onto the next chapters so... tips in general are welcome! 
> 
> Just for curiosity, the "doctor" doesn't have the same name as Makoto just for lazyness. It's because of the character on which he's based, and I thought it could be maybe interesting to keep the name.
> 
> See ya ~ ♪


	7. Video records

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I don't want to delay anymore so...
> 
> Thanks for Frauggie and Cassie567 for commenting on this story, and for the tips Frauggie gave me! It pushed me (even if indirectly) into sitting down and studying a lot more on how to make a story. Hope I can do better for now on ( '´• ω •`)

Rei jumped out of the train. Makoto was waiting for him on the station.  
  
"Makoto-senpai" he greeted, approaching him.  
  
"Hi" Makoto replied with a small smile- "sorry, did I make you rush?"  
  
"Don't worry" he looked away- where are we going?  
  
"To Samezuka" he answered, motioning for Rei to follow him on another train.  
  
"Samezuka? And what exactly do you plan to do there?" Rei asked as they adjusted themselves on the wagon seat. He must confess he was a bit surprised.  
  
"I'm going to talk with Rin. When you told me, I thought your idea was really good, but being honest, I doubt they are going to simply give them out them to anyone- Rei's mouth made a slight "o", because he had indeed completely forgotten about this detail- so I thought Rin could help. He knows more people than us specially on the swimming world, maybe he have a contact or something that can help us to get it more easily" he made a pause, and a soft smile appeared on his face "You know, for some reason, I always end up counting on Rin when Haru is in trouble" Rei made a mental note to remember that Makoto also used to be close to Rin back then. It's was strange to think that Makoto would ask Rin for help on how to act with the person he grew up with, but it only made clearer how little he still knew about the redhead.  
  
They spent the rest of the way in silence. It don't took much till they reached Samezuka. When they got to the pool, they imagined they would find Rin there, but they didn't. Instead , they had a surprise when they saw Gou standing beside the pool, accompanied with the pervert ex-captain.  
  
"Gou-kun?!" the both said in unison.  
  
"And... Mikoshiba-san? You do not study there anymore, do you...?" Rei asked, giving him a suspicious look. Seeijurou laughed.  
  
"It's true, but my little brother still does. I like to see how things are doing here, and when I saw Gou-kun, I--"  
  
"Guys, what are you doing here?" Gou interrupted him "I wanted to talk with my brother, but it seems like he haven't got out of his room yet this morning..."  
  
"Ah, yes"- Mikoshiba added, showing concern- "Nanase is missing, isn't him? I'm sorry..."  
  
"Yeah..." Makoto voice dropped as it always did when he was not comfortable "but we do not know much yet. He may still appear."  
  
"I hope so" he replied politely.  
  
"Anyway, what are you guys doing here?" Gou repeated.  
  
"We imagined Rin could help us with a thing. We found a way to get a little closer of what happened to Haru" before the girl's surprised look, he continued "we are going to try getting the cameras of the tournament's day, and with luck, we will get to see where Haru went and is."  
  
"Great idea, how could we forget this!" Gou clapped her hands excitedly.  
  
"Well, it was all Nagisa's idea" Makoto politely said.  
  
"The problem is that they shouldn't give security recordings for anyone, so we wanted to ask Rin-san if he knew, I don't know, someone..."  
  
"If it's the issue, I can help" Mikoshiba jumped in "I know a lot of the people who work at the swimming clubs around here, and I think they wouldn't mind to do me a little favor, if it's for a good cause."  
  
Rei and Makoto exchanged glances, and then looked to Gou. If it worked, it would be nice, but it all depended on her, since they were not naive enough to believe his offer was... of good will.  
  
Gou, whoever, did not hesitate.  
  
"It's okay. Any help we can get is welcome" Mikoshiba seemed immensely happy with the positive response. Makoto and Rei shivered. _Rin will kill us when he knows what we just did..._  
  
"Gou, what are you doing ther...?" speaking of the devil, Rin entered the pool on his usual swimming jacket without nothing below, although he seemed more in the mood of kicking someone than swimming. He stopped the moment he saw the ex-captain besides his sister.

"Makoto? Rei? What are you doing here?" he came closer to them, getting protectively between Gou and his former captain.

"They had a idea to find Haruka-senpai" Gou answered.

"Haru hasn't come back yet?" Rin's features showed surprise,then darkened. "shouldn't you contact the police...?" He rubbed his neck, for some reason reminding back the incident at the coffe shop "I have something that, maybe..."

"Really?"

"We haven't, but we can go now then" Gou said excitedly.

 "Ah, that's a good idea too- Mikoshiba intromised for the third time, not even bothering that Rin was burning holes on him with his eyes " So I can go with Gou-kun go to get the recordings while you make a report."

  
"Who said you are going anywhere with my sister??" Rin looked at the other two confused and irritated. Rei hurried to respond.

"Well, he offered help" he explained the idea for him. Rin seemed to get it, but still looked very unpleased with the idea of leaving his sister with the former-captain.

"If it's like this, then I will go..."

"I go with them" Makoto offered "so while it, if you can, you and Rei go to the police."

"Ok" Rin clicked his tongue "It's not like I'm with mind to practice today anyway" he looked at Makoto, to Seeijurou and Gou, and then back to Makoto  "Just... well... you know what ya need to do."

"Don't worry" Makoto winked at him as he and Rei walked away. Seeijurou stood still with a puzzled look.

"Matsuoka is always so agitated, no?"

  
\-----------

  
In spite of all, Mikoshiba wasn't one to underestimate. In not much more than a few minutes, they managed to convince the Security Guard on letting them into the deposit where they kept most of the recordings. They needed to insist a bit and promise they wouldn't touch anything they shouldn't, but what mattered was that they managed to get inside and could now procced further on their plan.

"This paraphernalia is pretty old" Makoto remarked, looking at the old computer and a bunch of videotapes discomposedly settled on a shelf. Now that they were here, he wasn't so excited about seeing the recordings anymore. If they contained something, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see.

  
"Which day it was?" Gou passed her eyes on a list of videos on the computer, each one named with date and position of the camera.

  
"25. But there's a lot of this same day, so let's see all of them, just in case."

  
"Ok" she clicked on one and sat down on the ground to watch. It was from the pool. Since they had a notion of the time Haru race ended and they last saw him, they don't needed to watch much to see this one had nothing special to them. They put on the second video, this one showing the outside of the locker room. In the first minutes, it was crowded of swimmers in and out, but soon everyone left and it was empty. Soon after, Haruka appeared on the screen, entering the locker with a distracted semblance, and Gou jumped.

  
"There! Stop there!"

  
"Calm down, if something happen, we will see" Makoto calmed her down, felling his own heartbeat quicken a bit.

  
"At least, take a photo. It may be useful." Makoto nooded and picked the cellphone in front of the screen.

They could see Rin leaving, and then the camera focused for a long time just on the empty space, till Haru appeared again, seeming completely fine.

"He looks normal..." Seeijurou leaned in to see closer. Gou noticed he had stopped making jokes.  

"So that means nothing happened on the bathroom..." Makoto felt somehow relieved.

On the next recordings, they did not notice anything weird. The place was always bustling, till at acertain point everyone leaves till it get completely empty. They saw Haru on other corridors, but nothing really noteworthy. In fact, Haru was the last one to get out and walk towards the exit, but for some reason, he never reached it.

  
The video they watched for longer was the one showing the front doors of. Even aware that they were there at the time and they would have seen if Haru was there, they still paid close attention until the video darkened and the camera clock hit midnight.

Haru indeed never passed by it, and that's was the most weird, cause every previous one showed that he was walking in that direction.

"This is weird..." Makoto voice was almost a whisper "He simply vanished..."

  
"Couldn't he have spent the night inside? Maybe in the morning, when they opened again, they could have found someone..." Mikoshiba suggested.

  
"It's improbable, they have night guards. An what Haruka would be doing there?" the two looked at Gou "Alright, he could be swimming, but somebody would have seen it."

  
"From the end of the corridor to the hall, that is the part we last saw Haru and where there aren't any cameras, it's the part we need to find out. If something happened, it was there" Makoto concluded.

  
"So we made no progress..." Gou leaned her head on her hands, tired.

  
"Don't say that. Maybe the other three can take some conclusion from this" Makoto encouraged.

  
"You are right..." Gou sighed, appreciating his tentative "Let's take a look at the club in person, shall we?

 

 

 


	8. You would rather don't know

Haru barely saw when the jailer entered the cell, too busy trying with to not crash out to care. As his boredom kept growing as time passed and he was dying of need to sleep, as he hadn't gotten any since he had been kidnapped, keeping awake was becoming a very hard task. The only thing he felt a bit thankful about this place was that at least there was a toilet - the last thing he needed now was to be forced to do his needs on the floor.

Tired and weak, Haru could not do much as the weird substance was again injected onto his veins before being released to eat. He asked himself what that substance was. On the last hours Haru had noticed a small itch on his chest, but he wasn't sure if it was just the tension or if it was really some reaction of the drug. He hoped at least nervosism was the only cause of the nausea he was feeling.

The man let the plate on the bed again and went to sit on the chair next the door. Haru looked at it with disgust, his pride talking louder than his hunger this time, and the man didn't insisted with him to eat. Haru cringed further into a ball. He would rather if he was given his clothes and schoolbag back. He hoped they haven't threw his stuff away. His favourite swimsuit was on that backpack.

Suddenly, a noise came from the outside. Both raised their heads. The jailer got up.

"I'm going to take a look."

Haruka stared at the open door in silence as he left, fighting his desire of try another tentative of escape. He needed to find a way to get out from there, but it was arriscate to try it too many times in a roll, he knew. If he failed again, he might erase completely future chances of escaping, as not have even the privilege of being released to eat. As much as he wasn't found of violence and wasn't on his best state, he thought he could fight and get past the jailer, but the problem was he would still need to find the exit of this place, and preferentially, without bumping on any mad "doctor". By the few he saw from the place as he was bring to one room to another, it wouldn't be an easy task.

He turned to the food on the plate, staring at the lil wilted vegetables. When he raised his head again, there was a man standing on the door.

Haruka's eyes widened. He didn't looked like the other people, instead he looked... terrible. His appearance was thin and haggard, and his arms had big purple marks. The clothes were the same as Haruka wore, expect by the fact they were dirty and torn at some points. There was a string hanging from his forearm.

"You!" the man threw himself on Haru, getting a firm hold at his neck. "You... if I kill you, she will stop with this madness" he hissed in a hoarse voice, clearly out of his mind. He tightened the grasp on his throat, and Haruka coughed in an attempt to breathe. Gathering all the strength he had, Haru raised his knee and hit a kick right on the man's groin, making him fall to the side and release him. Haru crawled away, coughing. Screaming in rage, the stranger prepared to attack him again, but before he did, the giant "doctor" broke into the room, kicking and dragging him away from Haruka. The miserable still tried to fight before he was beaten by the furious doctor. Haruka watched everything from distance, without a clue of what was going on, but he realized it didn't mattered.

It was the chance he needed.

Haru dashed towards the corridor, hearing the keeper voice yell for him come back. Haru didn't know where it took all the entrances he saw, but this place had to follow some logic, and he went for the further he could go. However, when he crossed it, his heart failed a beat.

He knew it would be hard. But he didn't expect the place to be **this** big.

Ahead of him, tens of doors, identical to the one he had just left, were scattered on the walls forming a big circle. On the center of the ground there was a enormous opening, separated by a grid from where the floor ended. The place was divided in levels, and underneath there was more corridors, with more entrances. _With more...of them?_ Damn, it was too big. Unable to hesitate more though, he searched for the stairs and jumped into it the fastest he could. Footsteps was heard behind him. If he had luck and this place followed a last bit of organization the real exit must have something different he could notice. But he didn't have time to search for it. He heard the footsteps coming closer, following him on the stairs. He soon would be caught exposed like this, so he risked the better he could do at the moment: choose a door randomly and entered on it.

Haru pressed his back on the metallic door. A strong smell invaded his nostrils, but he kept still, barely breathing, till he heard the steps echoing on distance, and released his breath in relief.

When Haruka looked ahead, it was impossible to see anything around him- he was on darkness. Ok, he needed to be veery careful now. As his breathing slowly calmed down, he slowly started to recognize some forms. Trying to think of what to do, he analyzed his surroundings. It was really hard to see with the only light being the one coming from under the door, but the place seemed big. There was two tall columns, slightly forward, and he seemed to be alone. He would be hidden there for now, but he still needed to find for a way out.

It was unlikely to there be an exit there, but maybe there were something he could use. Carefully, he advanced. The smell was very unpleasant, Haru noticed. It was weird, because the rest of the place had a strange smell of mold mixed with cleaning alcohol, but this room in special smelled rot. He touched one of the columns, and discovered it was a shelf.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. A small, incoherent grumble. Haru twisted his body in the direction of the sound, preparing himself for an attack, but nothing happened. Hesitantly, he took an step forward. It was still too dark, but as his eyes slowly got used to the lack of light, it got easier to distinguish forms, and he managed to see the contour of something not much ahead on the darkness, from where the sound seemed to come. He took another step, and another, squeezing his eyes to try to see better. A breathing sound.

Suddenly, a loud grunt erupted from it, making Haru jump and hit his back on the shelf behind him. A glass dropped, splintering on the ground. Haru felt a liquid oozing on his feet, a formalin smell invading the place. He tensed, the feeling of blood pounding on his ears.

Haru pressed his back further against the shelf as the form crawled on his direction, and he could finally see what it was.The blood ran cold on his veins.

It was a person.

An human.

His difficult on telling it apart was understandable, since it was not like it should be. It was still hard to tell because of the darkness, but as the 'creature' laid limp on the floor before him, the torso seemed much beyond of its normal size. A long scar was stitched up all along it's back and belly, the wound so torn apart it open on certain parts, making the bloody flesh visible. It took a moment till Haru noticed actually how much blood there was on the floor.

Haru opened his mouth on a silent scream. He gave a step back, his feet sinking into the glass shards scattered across the floor.

The first thing that crossed his mind was with what the hell of a kind of people he was dealing with.

The second was that he needed to get out of there. _Quickly._

Haru moved away from that, running to the door the faster his trembling legs could take him. He twisted the door knob, but it didn't open.

 _No,no,nononono!!!_  He started pounding on the door, despair growing each second. It wasn't happening, he couldn't be failing again, he hadn't even heard anything, how could them--

"It seems like a bad boy tried to escape again, didn't him? Will him behave now, or we need to let him stay there a bit more?" He heard the female voice from the other side of the door hiss like a snake. Suddenly, his body was jerking, and with his hands still trying to pull the door open, Haru vomited on the floor.

His body felt weak. Whether it was from panic, the weakness overtaking his body or that strange substance, he was suddenly falling and in a minute everything blacked out.

 

\--------

 

Haru's body hurt everywhere. He tried to move, but couldn't manage to- he was tied to the surface, his arms on each side of his body. He turned his head. This wasn't his cell. Taking a better look, he wasn't even on a bed, but on a stretcher. The gross taste of bile was still on his mouth.

He didn't liked the sharp instruments above the cabinet on his side.

Haru pushed against the bounds, hissing in pain as his muscles protested. The odd woman appeared on the door, appreciating the sight of him thrash uselessly. Her eyes locked with his. The strange gleam within them made a shiver crept up Haruka's spine as she walked to him in silence.

"Release me! What are you doing?" Haruka growled, struggling against the bounds again.

"Calm down, Nanase-kun. You can't escape." a drop of cold sweat trickled down his face. This woman got on his nerves. He had already get it that she was the leader of that gang, whatever many they were. But the way she acted irritated him, like if this situation and all else were just _normal_. The image of the mutilated person crossed his mind, and he clenched his fists.

"What will happen to me?"

"You don't need to be so hasty, you are an special guest... what's the problem? Are you afraid of what you saw?" She got closer him, extending her hand to caress his feet. Haru tried to cringe away, but there was no much room for him to move as his four limbs were tightly tied to the bed. 

"Finish this." He dared in a brave tone, even thought fear was chilling him inside. "Go on. Kill me."

"Ohh but my dear, I would never, ever kill such a precious thing like you. " She moved her hand up on Haru's tense body. "You're just going to... help me."

"I-I'm not helping bad people!" he hissed, body shaking. The smile on her face just grew wider.

"Pretty boy, you still haven't realized the place you are in? Why everyone here wear white coats, why you are taking medicine... you don't suspect anything, really?"

He hesitated, another trickle of sweat following the first one.

"So naive" she grinned widely, opening her arms in a gesture to show their surroundings "We are on an human laboratory! We make experiences with human beings, and you are my next experiment, Nanase!"

 


	9. Doctor Agony

Haruka imagined that the woman in front of him might have said something during the seemingly eternal minute that followed her latest words. He wasn’t sure, thought, because all he could hear was his own quicken heart beat. It took a moment before the world seemed back to its normal pace, the realization of what he had just heard finally setting over him.  
  
_Experiment._  
  
He were going to be a guinea pig.  
  
The cautious part of his mind alerted him that this statement was already bad enough, as he remembered with very much clarity the miserable creature he had found on the dark room. Yet, the sharp silver instruments laying on the drawer besides him made the horror grow inside him somehow in an absurdly fast rate. He didn't doubt this woman would talk about any other atrocity she had done without any shame. There was a dark desire in the way her eyes pierced Haru that frightened him more than anything.

"You wanted to know, didn't you? Then I'm going to tell you. We are all doctors and scientists from the underworld, tired from the annoying rules and morals from up there. They all have so much talent, but they can show nothing on the surface, so here I give them sponsorship and they can put their hability in pratice. And oh, it makes money.  You wouldn't  believe the kind of people who search for our products there." she seemed to have fun at how nauseous Haru looked "We use people to experiment, or, to sell. But your case in specify, is only a project for my own personal satisfaction."  
  
"Fuck you." she laughed at the way he stuttered the words out.  
  
A part of him screamed that he didn’t wanted to hear anything more, that he would end up vomiting again, but he needed to know. If he was going to be stuck on there, he just... nedded to know. He felt his neck sticky from cold sweat as she came even closer to him.  
  
"You going to get pregnant."  
  
At first he thought he hadn’t understood well. He should have heard wrong, Haru reassured himself, because there was no way, doesn’t matter if she was a kidnapper, a killer, a mad scientist or a damned demon, that anyone could do that. He was a male. But as she pushed the papers she had been busy gathering minutes ago in front of his eyes with full confidence, it fell for him that these concepts should simply not exist for her. All were schemes and writings in characteristic ‘doctor’ letter, being mostly incomprehensible to him, but he recognized some of the drawings from biology classes.  
  
Dear water, he was _screwed._  
  
"You will have your body modified and adapted to allow the hosting and development of another creature. Isn’t it cute? Far simple compared to lock people on ice or transplant  heads, isn’t it? I've been wanting to make for so long, but I didn't wanted to use the dirty people my employees  get. I wanted a pure, pretty boy that would look good on it. And you fit perfectly."  
  
Haru did not answer. Ok, maybe it shouldn’t scare him so much like it did, he admitted in an attempt to keep himself from panicking. But in whatever he tried to distract himself didn’t lessen the wave of nausea that invaded him, the realization he was going to be forced into a surgery and have things inserted on his body being utterly terrifying in all it’s terms. Even if pregnancy was a word that hasn’t caused him so much disgust since his 7 years, the mere idea of it happening, or rather, an **attempt** of having it happen in this situation sent all his limbs shaking in pure fear.  
  
He threw a quick look to the sharp objects beside the stretcher, and immediately regretted it.  
  
"Don’t make that face. You can stay relaxed, ‘cause I won’t change your ‘boy things’. It would be incredibly boring if you accidentally developed breasts and other unpleasing female things."  she finally moved away from him, but he had the feeling the relief would not last "You know, I wanted to start it as soon as possible. But you tried to escape. And I can’t let it pass by." as she moved away from the stretcher, and Haru felt panic crash over him again as he saw the other person entering the room.  
  
The big male doctor smiled sadistically at him.  
  
The man strode towards him, and Haru squirmed violently. Completely helpless with an insane man in front of him who could or not be even worst than that crazy woman. Great. The man, probably as big as Sousuke, seemed to be having fun with Haru's expression as his eyes roamed over him with malicious curiosity.  
  
"Where do we start with this little runaway puppy?" his hand wandered across Haru’s leg, stopping to grab at his foot. He proceed to untie it from his bounds, and Haru’s first instinct was to kick him off, but was prevented by the firm hold on his ankle. He was a bit confused, but as the man released his other foot and proceeded to try pulling his pants off Haru's blood froze.  
  
"Let go... what are you...!!" his struggle only made it easier for the piece of clothing be retired completely. Haru pulled his legs together as he felt the cold air hitting his skin. Embarrassment overtook him.  
  
"It’s enough to make you shy?" the doctor laughed at his pathetic attempt of cover himself. He leaned over him to untie his upper half, and when Haru saw his arm so close to his face, he didn’t think twice before sinking his teeth onto it.  
  
"Your little **shit!** " Haru was slammed back down on the stretcher, hard enough to make him dizzy. He was hold down on his belly, wincing in pain as the doctor grabbed his hair and pulled at it forcefully. "Try biting me again, and I’m gonna tear every single teeth off your mouth." He twisted his head in a painful position, and chuckled. "I guess someone is wanting to feel pain, uh? What a dirty brat you are."

  
He was tied again, this time with his belly down, and suddenly the gray shirt was being ripped out his body and shivers ran down his spine as Haru found himself fully naked in front of his captor. Big hands traveled around his back and moved to grab the base of his tight, squeezing the pale skin till it turned red.  
  
"Are you scared? Where are that brave man you showed us before?"  Haru scowled in disgust as his bare thigh was palmed by the hateful man, reaching very close to his groin. "I was starting to think you had no feelings at all, but look at you now. Cringing like a scared bunny." Haruka closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worst, but the doctor moved away before touching any further. Haru heard the clashing sound of metal behind him, and couldn’t turn to see what he was doing, but he noticed the man had moved away only to get something on the drawer. He felt his feet being grabbed again and hold still before the sensation of something of cold metal touch was adjusted just below his nail. He had no time to react as his nail was pulled off forcefully, pain bursting from his feet. He barely had time to recover before the pliers set under his second nail, sinking into the soft skin and making it bleed as it ripped through the little space, pulling and cutting. It pulled again, and the freezing air, the humiliation and the hateful laughs of the man proved enough to get him grasping on the padding below him, taking all his might to not cry out. A needle was buried on the bleeding fingertip, a burning sensation erupting through it and increasing as the remaining of his clothes were soaked with a smelly liquid and wrapped around it. He gasped. But he would not cry out. He couldn't. All he could do was endure, either till the man got satisfied, or till he passed out and rested for a few minutes before it restarted again and again.  
  
 --------------------------  
  
The Iwatobi gang were again sprawled in a clumsy circle on the floor, in a very similar position they were on Haru’s house the previous day- with the difference this time they were at Makoto’s place and Rin was sitting on the doorstep further from the rest, staring at nothing really.  
  
"Bad news...?" Gou watched with concern her brother sink further on his sulking state. He hadn’t said a word since they came back, and thought she understood it was anything abnormal for her brother to be suffering the absence of his rival almost more than them all, it was not like she could get used to it. It has been a while since she last saw him look so down...  
  
"Not really. I think he’s mad because of what the police officers said to us" Rei whispered, hoping to not let the redhead listen and worse his mood.  
  
"What did he say?"  
  
Rei sighed.  
  
"'People disappear every day.'"  
  
"Ah..."  
  
Meanwhile, Nagisa was sitting on the floor next to Makoto watching the videos on the cellphone.  
  
"That’s so weird... I thought this way we would find Haru-chan easily, but it’s only making me confused.... "  
  
"Well, it served to convince me that it’s definitely not Haru’s thing" Makoto spoke "But I also can’t think about what happened here... "

"What if he got..." Rei started, but Nagisa cut him up.

"Rei-Chan! Don't say such an horrible thing!"  
  
"But even thinking about kidnapping, isn’t it weird?" Makoto said, calming Nagisa down "Someone who decided to take a swimmer on a club full of people, is not much intelligent... "  
  
"Haru were the last to left the locker. It was empty at that hour" Rin turned inside to enter the conversation. He still felt bad about this whole thing. For him, Haru disappearance was in part his fault. He was decided to wait for him after the race, but then, for no reason at all, he went home. If he had waited just a bit more...

 Just because he had to chickened out. Ridiculous.  
  
However, another thing that didn’t get out of his head was the photography incident. Or well, what was sure had been a stalker photographing him and Haru. He meant to talk about it at the police station, but kept quiet as they would probably think it was just nonsense of his head. They had been photographed that night, he was sure, but why and by who? He still didn’t know the connections between the two things, but at this rate it was just disturbing.  
  
"Even so, it’s strange to think someone would enter and leave the swimming club at that hour without us seeing..." Makoto implied.  
  
"Geez, remember that not even Haru-chan we saw leave. Only if he disappeared by a magic." Nagisa nudged. Them all groaned uncomfortably. Oh, There was still _that_ detail.  
  
"Rei-chan, can’t your brain make some calculation to find where Haru-chan is..?"  
  
"That’s not how it works, Nagisa-kun..."  
  
Still, Rei kind of did as suggested as he started wondering as his friends kept discussing. Well, Nagisa wasn’t in all wrong, there had to be some logic. It was just like a complicated puzzle. The piece one was that it was indeed hard to believe Haru had disappeared by himself. So let’s suppose there was another person (even if the thought gave him goosebumps, was what he thought to be more logical at this point). But still, his senpai and whoever it was that prevented him from leaving would have left the building somehow, and before Rei and the gang, because it was told and Gou confirmed there were nobody inside when they closed. Yet, how could it be that they did not saw it? Not even the cameras? The piece two, as thought by Rin, by the time the cameras last captured Haru, he was already alone in the place. If someone was there, only if someone was invisible to hide from all the cameras, or... wait, could it really be?

They were alone, weren’t them?

Wait, let's count. It were them, outside, Haru... ah, and the janitor. And...  these guys on the van.  
  
No, but that doesn’t meant anything. Even if there was a kidnapper. He would still have to get out with Haru and it would not explain how they had not seen that, unless...  
  
Unless...  
  
Rei suddenly went as pale as a ghost.  
  
**"FUCK!! "**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I have no excuse this time u.u
> 
> The biggest thing is here now... I hope it's not so lame. A sweet strawberry for you who read ♥


	10. Seahorses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I will update fast. One day I will move on on Free. One day I will write a fic that isn't complete nonsense. But today is not the day.
> 
> I'm back! I revised this chapter a lot of times, but let me know if there are some typo or something too hard to understand. And apologizing in advance for a whole scene without a single canon character D: I thought this scene was important to give out some details (it's 100% based on the famous scene of the movie 'the fall' (｡• ω •｡)), but I promise it won't happen again! *bows down*
> 
> On a note, I've rewritten the all previous chapters. The changes were mostly minor, but some descriptions of oc's or scenery might get a little confusing; however, as the plot itself remains the same I believe there's no need to re-read the whole thing (I hope so). Last but not less important, thank you so much for all the feedback! I'm so happy you guys are actually able to enjoy this story somehow! Really, thank you ♥

When he was just a child, Haru went to an aquarium with his grandmother. During the outing she bought him a book about the ocean creatures, because Haru was born loving everything related to water. He devoured the book eagerly. However, when it came to a certain part, he got very confused, and that was the part of the seahorses.

 

Back then, Haru still didn’t knew human mating was very different from what he saw on sea life documentaries, nor why they didn’t lay eggs like fishes; naturally, the happily drawn animals with swollen bellies made no sense to him. Haru asked his grandmother about it, and he remember very well the way she laughed before answering his question.

 

Haru spent a week without touching the book.

 

Haru thought he heard voices around him, but it was hard to guess because all seemed to be sunk in an echo far deep on his memory. He didn’t know why these memories were coming back right now- maybe it was because of the threats previously made, or it was just due to the mental confusion. The voices at times seemed close, at times far, diverging from mocking chatter to shrill, agonizing screams. Even when his conscience wasn't completely engulfed in darkness, his mind seemed to be covered by a fog, far from reality. Maybe he had a fever.

 

Haru couldn't see. On a short moment he was able to think straight, he wished from the bottom of his heart they hadn’t done anything to his eyes while he was tortured. His body laid pressed against cell bars he didn’t remember of, and he no idea from where it was coming all the blood sticking to his arms and legs. He tried to flee, or rather, to crawl away two or three times, but anywhere he went he would always come across these bars. To these same bars he were pulled against twice, once to have food forcefully shoved down his throat and the second time to get an injection again, but this time, it didn’t hit his vein, and this was the worst of them all.

 

Haru fought. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. He fought furiously, he punched and kicked and even bite anything he felt come close to him, but just like before, he wasn’t capable of preventing the actions that were made with him. He remember clawing at his own body with so much strength his nails would have broke skin, if he still had nails.

 

He had lost. Doesn’t matter how much he fought, he wasn’t capable of stopping the pain, the abuse or the forced injections. He couldn't defend himself. He was weak.

 

Nagisa once called him a dolphin.

 

_Ridiculous._

 

He was being transformed into a seahorse.

 

 

\-----------

 

 

Not many floors up, a big part of the criminals that there worked gathered on a single room. Despite the relatively high number of people, the silence and tension were almost palpable in the air. No one dared to say a word, probably intimidated by the woman sitting few meters ahead, head buried on her hands and clearly in the worst of the moods. The only audible noise were from her heels tampering against the floor.

 

“Which one of you were the responsible for killing the decoy?” there was no answer. The woman hit her fist on the table. ”Answer me! Who shot it down?”

 

The prolonging silence seemed to irritate the woman further. She glared to each one of her workers like if she was about to murder them.

 

“I can’t take this project ahead with only one person, your dumbheads! Do you have a mere idea of how long it will take to find another of these? Someone that is compatible and don’t have it’s cells completely fouled by narcotics?”

 

“But, boss-” a tattoed brute pronounced himself in an incredibly meek voice for his size “he was very aggressive, if we-”

 

“I don’t give a damn! It’s totally your fault he escaped! And if that was all, I could even be nice and let it pass, but you almost let the main subject escape! I was forced to hurt it because of _**your**_ error! I should rip off your limbs!”

 

Obviously, everyone else was too tense to try to contradict her. Whoever was the real responsible for the shoot was clever enough to keep his mouth shut. Thankfully, the woman seemed too exhausted to think about punishing them now.

 

Giving out a sigh, she sat down again. After some minutes, she weakly turned to the man standing next to her.

 

“Makoto. The organs I will need...”

 

“The material is collected and is ready to be worked, doctor.”

 

“...Alright. I’m gonna see what I can do. Now get out. All of you.”

 

After they left, Haru’s jailer, that was too included on their last minute reunion approached the tall doctor.

 

“Wow, boss’s angry, isn’t she? All because of this weird kink of impregnating men...”

 

“It’s not all about this.” the taller man ignored the disrespectful way in which he referred to their boss “It seems like some idiots are still wandering around with a hunt van. Like if this guy’s capture being of high risk wasn’t enough...”

 

“Seriously?” The masked man raised an eyebrow “well, I just hope it doesn’t put police on our track.”

 

“Don’t worry about it. Now go back to work. Nanase needs to stay alive. You will see how Victoria will gets much calmer when the effects of the experiment start to show...”

 

The jailer shrugged.

 

“I hope so. Don’t wanna to have my balls ripped off because of this guy”

 

 

\----------

 

 

After the fact of Haru not being there, the worst part of the swimmer’s disappearance was having to move on with life like if nothing happened. Even thought their concern for him was enormous, some affairs simply couldn’t be left aside, like... going to school. To Makoto, it was specially hard to have to face the empty chair beside him every time he looked left. It was obvious that he wouldn’t manage to pay attention to anything on class today. He had even tried to _not look_ , but it was a bit of a difficult task being an action he was used to do so many times in a day.

 

The most bothersome, however, were the frequent questions of his classmates about Haruka’s absence. Makoto didn’t blame them, after all, he knew nobody was used to seeing them apart; but at this rate it was hard to not get upset by this kind of question.

 

He have been thinking a lot about Rei’s words. Before, Makoto tried to fool himself into thinking Haru could be alive and well, even thought it contradicted all he knew about his friend since their childhood, but just remembering their discussion, Makoto felt he would be nothing but stupid to keep believing in such fantasy.

 

 

_“Fuck! I mean, ah, fuck, guys! I know what happened to Haruka-senpai! That van, these guys on that van took Haruka-senpai!”_

_At first, everyone looked at Rei like if he was hallucinating. But as they saw he was being serious about it, it started to sink that, God, that made some sense._

_“Think about it. Haruka-senpai has a slender body” Rei was agitated, because he felt like if he had finally got the lacking piece of that puzzle. He pushed his glasses up on instinct, but regretted it soon after, because that was not a kind of realization to be proud of. “Those guys left a lot after everyone, just like us. And they carried so many things, however swimmers don’t normally need all that material.”_

_“So... you mean Haru was..." Makoto’s eyes darkened. He looked devastated by the thought of an unconscious Haru shoved on a dirty sports bag "all those bags was for...”_

_“Calm down, Mako-chan, this doesn’t necessary mean Haru-chan is hurt! Maybe he--”_

_“Maybe he is getting beaten, raped or worse?? How can you expect us to CALM DOWN??” Rin roared._

_“Stop fighting!” Gou interrupted. If their imagination continue to work on that direction, it wouldn’t be any good. “Doesn’t anyone remember the numberplate of the van?”_

_“I do!” Nagisa raised his hand “It was... something with ‘I’ or...”_

_“Only this!?”_

_“Ah, it’s because it’s from ‘Iwatobi-chan’... but I will remember the rest, wait...”_

 

 

 

 

Only thinking of what could be happening to Haru now had Makoto’s eyes filling with tears. Damn, he missed his friend immensely.

 

By the time the classes ended, Makoto wasn’t very surprised in receiving a message from Rin. Even thought he already could imagine the content of the conversation, he couldn’t deny it cheered him up a little. He didn’t feel much like going home, specially now that he would have to walk back all the way he always did with Haru alone. Without hesitating, he picked his backpack and went to the indicated place. Minutes later, he and Rin were sitting on the deck, their backpacks thrown on some corner so they could talk in peace. Rin probably choose this place for this reason, as at that time almost anyone passed there. Also there, they could see the sea from distance. Makoto remember Rin once said it made him feel good.

 

“You do remember the day we went to the coffee shop” it was not a question, but a way of Rin refer to said day, because he had no doubt Makoto hadn’t forgot such a recent event. “Haru and I stood outside there for a while...”

 

Makoto’s expression lighted up.

 

“Ah, you two were...”

 

“Haru followed me” Rin emended abruptly. He tucked a strand of hair behind his ear “the truth is, something very weird happened at that time. Someone took a picture of us.”

 

“Picture?” Makoto’s eyebrows tilted upwards. Ah, so he finally understood why Rin and Haru were so agitated when they came. “Have you told it to police?”

 

“No, they would never take it seriously. But it happened, and Haru knew it too.”

 

“I believe in you. But, if this is true...”

 

“...It means someone was already keeping an eye on Haru for a while.” Rin had a serious expression on his face. Makoto saddened.

 

“Well, it proves Rei’s theory, but in the end, it doesn’t help at all...” Makoto semmed not happy with this statement. Rin had to agree. It was true that, even with the greatest effort they could make, it would be hard to get any information that could help Haru. They were only teenagers. Maybe playing detective was a really stupid attitude of their part, but stay sitting waiting for the police do something, was way worse. If something bad happened to Haru, Rin would blame himself forever for not having waited for him that day and not doing anything in his reach to help him.

 

But what made everything worse, was that even though all they got was not more than suppositions, if Rei's words were only a little true, then it was obvious something bad happened. Rin was aware on some cases, the kidnapper would ask for demands and the victims almost always got away unharmed, but by the few he knew, these people didn’t prey people like Haru. He could be an incredibly beautiful and talented person, but he was still average. Rin couldn't see reason for someone to prey on him if they were investigating his life and knew Haru had no money or family they could get profit from.

 

“Makoto... I'm sorry for having yelled yesterday. B-but... what I said” Rin’s fists were shaking slightly. “...do you think.. do you think Haru might be...”

 

before Rin could finish, Makoto’s phone ringed.

 

“I-I’m sorry!” Rin muttered an ‘it’s okay’ as Makoto got up to answer the call. Rin took profit of the distance to press his eyes on the palm of his hands, attempting to relieve his own frustration. He could feel his emotions threatening to overflow, and cursed under his breath how little his control over his own emotions was.

 

“It was my mother” Makoto said as he came back “she asked me to pick a package for my brothers downtown. Want to come with me?”

 

“Ah... can I? Ok, then” Rin got up keeping his eyes glued to the ground. Makoto must have noticed something on his countenance, ‘cause he soon asked:

 

“Rin? What were you going to...”

 

“It was nothing” It was better to just drop it. He knew Makoto already have to worry enough about Haru, as he had looked so broken the previous day. He was not that selfish. It was just that he trusted the backstroke swimmer like no one else.

 

 _Damn._ More than not being able to control himself, Rin hated to keep thinking about Haru twenty four hours a day. But how could he not think about that stupid mackerel-eater now that he could be suffering literally anything? Even so, he was starting to believe he should keep his thoughts to himself more often.

 

 

\-----------

 

 

Rin sat down on the stile of the store’s entrance while Makoto was busy getting what he needs. He should not take more than a few minutes so Rin didn’t bother to enter. He stood there, watching the people on the streets, coming, going and buying things. All of them seemed so happy and... in peace.

 

His eyes fell on a middle-aged fisherman organizing a fish stall, and he felt like if he had just received a punch on the chest. Lowering his head, Rin couldn’t help but wonder if he had just lost another person he loved and cared about.

 

Turning his attention away from the fish, a group of teenagers caught his attention. They were talking loud and making a mess on the street. Oh, Rin had met types like these when he was abroad, that were always putting everyone down and thought high of themselves only because they started to get drunk at fourteen. Usually, this was the type of person the redhead despised the most. He avoided to focus on the gross subject they were talking, but couldn’t manage to turn his attention completely away from the group. Rin asked himself if they even had the legal age to be driving that big van they were on...

 

An idea crossed his head. No, it would be a hell of a... luck? No, too much of a coincidence. But it had the “I” on it’s plate. Still, it would be...

 

“Hey, Makoto” Rin grabbed his friend’s arm the moment he stepped out the store “if you saw the guys that supposedly took Haru, you think you would recognize them?”

 

Green eyes followed Rin’s gesture, and the instant they fell on the guys, Makoto’s usually droopy eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it soon after as one of the guys noticed them, consequently making all of the four turn to look. At a disguised, yet hurried pace, each one of them quickly jumped inside the van and turned it on.

 

Makoto didn’t have to look at the side to know what was on Rin’s mind.

 

“After them!”

 

 

 


	11. Dead men tell no tales

Makoto and Rin ran as fast as they could. In normal circumstances, they would never be able to pick up with a van, but for some reason, it seemed to not be using it’s full speed. Thanks to that, they were able to not lose it on sight, but when the van entered an alley Makoto’s brain screamed for him to stop and think twice before continuing, because to him looked too much like a trap - however, Rin was so mad Makoto doubted he would stop even if he asked him to. Not that he could blame him, though. It was a chance they could never have again. He could feel on his skin how close they were from finding Haru, and even though risky, any risk seemed not important enough to make them think about losing such a chance.

 

But just as he expected, when the two reached the alley’s entrance the group were already all out of the van, waiting for them.

 

“Lost something? What are the two princesses doing here?” One of them, a short guy, teased.

 

“Oh, maybe we have forgotten your sister’s name” They laughed, but nor Rin nor Makoto gave signal of moving away. Instead, Rin threw his head back and shot them a glare filled with disdain.

 

“If my sister were to go out with someone of your level, I would be busy taking her to a mental hospital, not here. By the way, you appear to be not so brave as you think, running of us like cowards.”

 

The shorty advanced to Rin, almost rubbing his nose onto his.

 

“Who are you calling a coward, your fag?”

 

“You know very well what I’m talking about! Where’s Haru?” Rin roared louder, grabbing the other guy by the collar and almost raising him off the ground. Makoto tensed. Upon hearing Haru’s name, the guy’s expression changed to one of confusion, soon being replaced by an exaggerated laugh. His breath smelled like alcohol.

 

“Ya must be talking about the cutie pie we took care the other day, uh? The blue eyed one? At this time, he must be thrown on the bed of some millionaire rat out there.”

 

Rin punched the brat with so much strength the sound of teeth breaking resounded on the walls. Upon seeing their partner being attacked, the other boys charged to Rin, but Makoto jumped in front of them with surprisingly ferocity, keeping them away from him and dropping them to the ground.

 

Rin flashed his pointy teeth in a half grin. He had to confess he was part excited to see Makoto fight. He never expected his usually-so-calm friend to do such a thing as fight, in the phsical meaning of the term, but even though still carrying hesitation on his moves and being more defensive than anything else it was something he never expected to see in his life. Well, Rin thought bitterly, even a lamb will become a beast if you touch it’s offspring. These guys had no idea with who they were messing.  


 

And thought street fighting were not a skill of them, Rin and Makoto easily got the advantage. It would be a lie to say Rin hadn't punched a few people on his life, but Makoto, he was sure the boy had never even killed a bug on purpose. It wasnt like Rin too did it on a daily basis, however all the work out and the muscles they have been developing for years proved to be very useful, enough to put them on a whole another level compared to these delinquents. Rin wiped the blood away from his nose, wincing after receiving a specially hard hit on the ribs. He grabbed the guy in front of him by the shoulder and raised his knee with full force to his stomach, making him gasp. Maybe, the anger were making a special effect too.

 

In minutes, the two together managed to put all of them out of action.

 

Rin crouched down next to the one closest to him, pulling his face closer by the shirt’s neck. “Now tell me. Where the fuck is Haru?”

 

The guy spat a few blood between broken teeth.

 

“Ya... are an idiot. You can’t save him.”

 

Rin intended to repeat the question, but before the words left his throat, a faint version of his name came from behind him. Someone gasped. With his hearbeat quicken, Rin turned in time to watch with wide eyes Makoto fall limply on the ground.

 

“Ma...ko...to...?”

 

Standing next to his friend’s unconscious form, an adult man met Rin’s gaze.

 

Completely different from the brats they have just fought, this man was tall. Rin could see the shape of muscles bulging under his clothing. His size remembered Sousuke by far, but something on his aura gave Rin goosebumps. The guy under him trembled, and Rin quickly put himself on a defensive position, preparing for another fight.

 

“So this is the guy who share my name? A bit... weak, isn’t he?” The weird man flashed Rin a smile, which he ignored. He couldn’t avoid but notice the strange way in which the man was dressed. There was a coat and what looked like a nursery uniform, and it all made him look he was doing cosplay or something of that kind. He wondered what would make an person wears such clothes at a time like this, and wondered if, by any means, this man hadn’t actually ran out of some asylum.

 

“Who the hell are you?”

 

“One of the people in charge of Haruka Nanase, of like we call, subject M-5. Alive, as stubborn as beautiful, and can handle pain in a quite impressive way. Is a very interesting guy.” Rin stiffened at Haru’s name. The man switched from one feet to other, keeping a convenient distance from Makoto’s unconscious body. He pulled something from his side and threw it on Rin’s feet.

 

The Iwatobi swimming club uniform- Haru’s jacket.

 

Rin's hands clenched.

 

“Don’t you bother on revealing me those things?” Despite the urge to curse and punch this man for the obvious provocation, Rin gathered all the self control he could muster and kept calm. The priority now was to get him away from Makoto. Any unthoughtful action of his right now could put his friend in danger.

 

“Oh no, I don’t. Because you” when the man took a gun out of his coat, Rin’s heart faltered. “-will die.”

 

The deafening noise erupted through the air. However, it took Rin half a second to notice the bullet wasn’t directed to him, but to behind him. The bullet made a disgusting noise as it passed through the skull of the brat trying pathetically to crawl away. Rin’s ruby colored eyes widened in horror.

 

Gathering all the courage he had, Rin jumped on the man, in a desperate attempt to take the gun away from his hands. He shot again, this time towards the sky due to Rin’s grip on gun’s barrel. The man grabbed his arm, twisting it and roughly kicking him to the ground. His sides protested with the impact. He tried to get up as fast as he could, but instantly when he raised his head he felt the cold hardness of metal make contact with his forehead.

 

“I hate to waste such quality material. But... orders are orders.” As he pronounced the words, Rin trembled.  He gritted his teeth.

  
_Shit. I'm sorry. Sorry mom if I wasn't a good son._   
  
  
_If wherever I’m going now I find you, Haru, ah I’m going to give you some slaps._   
  
  
_But this freak said you are alive, didn’t he?_

 

_Good. Because in two seconds I won’t._

 

 

However, as the seconds passed the pain or the darkness or whatever should come before death didn’t come. Instead, his ears filled with a familiar sound, he was used to hear before but he didn't remember ever hearing it out of movies. A police siren. Rin thought it never sounded so wonderful in his life, but the relief was quickly replaced as the man grabbed him and started dragging him to the van.

 

“W-where are you taking me!? Pull me down, your bastard!” Ignoring his protests, the man pulled him inside, being followed by the remaining guys. The man kept one hand on the gun and other holding Rin’s arms behind his back, and in one move, he pulled Rin's head back and slide a pill between his lips. Rin choke and started coughing, but the man grasped the pill he spatted and pushed it back inside his mouth, pushing his fingers deep on Rin’s throat, and deeper to choke him when he tried to bite the intrusive fingers out. Then he turned away from Rin.

 

Without saying a word, he pointed the gun to the brunette forgotten on the pavement.

 

“NO!” Rin watched Makoto’s body shook as the bullet perforated him once, and twice. Rin cried to the top of his lungs, squirmed and managed to free himself, but as he tried to jump out of the van the door closed in front of his face. His fists slid on the shiny metal, watching in despair Makoto lay immobile on the cold cement. _Inert._ He tried to punch the door open, but this time, it was his body that refused to respond. His vision were starting to black out. What was that?, he thought. He held onto the door miserably, trying to keep balance before falling on the van’s floor. The siren sound still danced on his head for a minute, before becoming further and further till it disappeared completely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	12. Red like blood

Rin was on a prison. At least, this is what it seemed.

 

The walls around him were made of stone and a narrow corridor separated the cell he was in from other identical ones, where several people were locked, seeming to not be in a not better situation than him. Some were just cringing on the corners, others cried. Rin got a little scared by those reactions, but the realization he must be where Haru was talked louder, followed by disappointment the moment he scanned his surroundings with his eyes and found he was nowhere to be seen.

 

When he looked to his own cell, though, Rin realized he was not alone. A few meters away from him, as curled up on themselves as hedgehogs, were the three guys who kidnapped Haru - well, with the exception of the one who had been shot on the skull. Rin’s first desire was to punch each one's face on the wall for what they did to Haru, but taking a better look, they now little looked like the crooks whom he and Makoto had fought with- they were cringing to each other in fear, whining like little kids. Something also seemed to have bruised their bodies quite a lot. Rin didn’t feel not even a single bit of pity, but he couldn't help but wonder who had gave them part of the lesson they deserved.

 

Deciding to leave them alone, Rin crawled to the cell bars and called for Haru a few times. A few people turned and stared, but he got no response.

 

Minutes passed by, and Rin had nothing to do besides wander his eyes by the walls thinking how he would get out there, since there were no windows nor any way out as far as his eyes reached. After a while, the whimpers that had already started to become regular to his ears were broke by the sound of high heels ticking on the corridor. Rin raised his eyes to see two women stop before the cell. None of them seemed to notice his presence. The first one was good-looking and Rin dared to say her imposing appearence was only due to her shoes, but she seemed to scare the guys a lot. The other just stood slightly behind her with her head low in submission, looking at anything in special. They exchanged a few words- that, though still being obviously japanese, to Rin sounded completely incomprehensible- and pointed to the guys, whose whines became louder.

 

“Victoria-san!” one of them pleaded.

 

“L-look, nothing bad happened! We 'gonna do anything you want to make up for this, just please let us out--”

 

Before saying anything, the woman raised a finger to her lips, and it was enough to make them shush. This time, when she spoke, Rin could understand perfectly what her words meant.

 

“I asked you to disappear with the van after you had brought my request. It wasn’t what you did, was it? If your indiscretion had brought the police here, your boss would be in a serious trouble, don’t you think?”

 

She turned to the other woman again. "They are all material now. Take them to research room", it was what she said, if Rin had heard right, but he wasn't sure because it still made no sense to him at all, but by the cold tone in her voice and the way the guys despaired, it didn't seem like a joke. They started to beg, but the woman ignored all the crazy offers they made and started to leave till one of them screamed in despair.

 

“V-victoria-san, look! M-Makoto brought you a gift!”

 

It seemed to be only a desperate attempt of the guy to get her distracted, but with his statement, suddenly Rin that had till now passed unnoticed on the corner of the cell had all eyes on him. The woman’s eyebrows, that had been furrowed into a frown, moved upwards in surprise.

 

“Oh... I haven’t noticed you there.” She crouched next to the bars where he was, completely forgetting the three boys on the other side of the cell. “What’s your name, boy?

 

“Matsuoka Rin” was his cold reply. He saw she ran her eyes all over his body with the curiosity of a child, lingering on his chest and muscles that were still visible beneath the sweatshirt, and it made he feel uncomfortably exposed. He had no interest in knowing who she was, but he mentally swore to himself that, if she was the one who requested Haru’s kidnapping, he would make her pay. He still didn’t know how, but he would.

 

“I’m here for Haru. Where’s him?”

 

“Oh yes, now I remember. It was you on that picture” He didn’t let it pass that her behavior had changed completely now that she was talking to him. Almost all of her severe composure had vanished, and she looked delighted and fascinated at the same time by the irritated expression on his face  “May I ask what kind of relationship you two have?”

 

“He’s my... rival, and friend.” he growled “What did you do to him?”

 

“You are just as short-tempered as him, aren’t you? I can see similarities between you two. Don’t worry, Nanase’s is resting. If you want, I can arrange a meeting for you two” she threw a quick glance to the boys on the side, before locking her eyes on Rin's again. His eyes narrowed, wondering how much he could trust of it.

 

Moving away from Rin, the woman gestured for the other to open the cell. At first Rin was intrigued by the fact nobody moved a muscle to try to escape, but when he saw the outline of a gun under the girl’s clothes, his doubt fade away. A immobile Makoto popped up in his thoughts, and he pushed it away as fast as possible.

 

“What about them?” Rin asked, gesturing to the group’s direction.

 

“They will receive punishment for what they did. Are you coming?” Rin stepped out the cell without hesitating.

 

Outside the cage, Rin could see the corridor between the cells wasn't as big as he thought, but after they crossed the first door, the circular hall and the staircase in front of him seemed to not have an end. This place was a maze. From the several doors spread on the walls, he couldn't see any way out. He began to watch the woman walking in front of him. What could she want? He had no idea why this difference of treatment between him and the guys who had brought him there. He had just attacked her employes- if he had understood their relationship well- shouldn’t she be mad at him? Instead she had been calm in the way she treated him, almost friendly. Whatever it was that used to happen there, she seemed to be a kind of leader, and it was enough for him to loathe her. He was aware the lull in which she handled him were just a mask, a calm tide that hides a treacherous ocean, and she would kill him without a second thought if he appeared to be a threat for her. And now that she knew they were friends, one false step and Rin would be condemning not only himself but Haru, too.

 

 _She can be a damned snake_ , he thought _but she’s a very smart snake._

 

When they opened the worn out wooden door, Rin got his heart on his mouth. He peeked inside, and saw, laying on a bed on the middle of the dark room, all tied and curled up, the person he hadn't saw since the tournament’s day.

 

“Haru!” Rin ran to his side, hurrying to free him from the clumsy position he laid in. Haru flinched with the touch, but must have recognized him, because he let himself to be untied without struggling. Rin watched Haru frown and squeeze his eyes a few times the moment he pulled the blindfold out, and in a hesitant move, he picked Haru on his arms, only then realizing how much his own arms were trembling. Rin inspected him carefully. All the vigor that were usually so visible on him had disappeared. His lips were bruised, like if he had been biting on them for a long time, and his eyes had dark circles under them. There was no big injury on his body, but if the fact of Haru being alive and not as hurt as he had imagined did give him a drop of relief, Rin was bitter on seeing how weak he looked. _He don’t deserve this. He never did anything to deserve this._

 

“Rin...? What are you doing here...?” Haru blinked, raising his hand to brush a particular purple spot on Rin’s face, making him startled at remembering how he had forgotten his own bruises. Instead of giving him an answer, Rin picked Haru’s hand onto his own. His fingertips were covered by bandages and surprisingly clean, but on the smaller finger, where the bandage hadn’t been arranged very well and was coming off, he could see that a good amount of the flesh had been pulled out of his finger. Rin felt his blood boil.

 

“Your damn cow...” he turned to the woman leaning against the door, and she gave a smile back. She seemed to watch them with genuine interest, specially the way Rin held Haru on his arms.

 

“Rin” Haru pulled at his hoodie, calling his attention back “how did you get here?”

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt the touching reunion, but I can't stay babysitting you forever.” despite what she just said, she moved away from the door, coming closer to them.

 

“I’m not leaving here” Rin growled.

 

“I thought so. So I have a small proposal for you: give me a drop of your blood, and I will let you stay.”

 

“Don’t” before Rin could open his mouth to ask why in hell she needed blood, Haru had sat up and was now furiously glaring at the woman “Don’t give it.”

 

“It’s only a little bit of blood. Won’t harm you in any way.” Rin looked from Haru to the woman, confused. He couldn’t imagine a reason for her to have interest on his blood, but it seemed to be a small price to pay once he also couldn’t imagine anything too bad she could do with it, but Haru seemed really mad about it. “If you give me, you will keep company to your friend for the rest of the night, now, if you refuse, I can’t let Nanase alone in there so I will have to take him with me” _Oh, there was that damned snake showing her face._

 

“Don’t do it!” Ignoring Haru’s complaints, Rin pulled his sleeve up as she came closer to him, and extended his other arm in front of Haru when he tried to move forward to her. Haru watched in frustration both Rin and the woman ignore him completely as she filled the needle with Rin's blood. After it was done, she kept the promise and left the room.

 

“You are an idiot.”

 

“She had a gun, your shithead. Do you think I’m that stupid to defy someone who can shot you?”

 

Haru shrugged and let his body fall back onto the bed. It felt infinitely comfortable after staying who-know-how-many hours tied, however, the base of his spine still hurt pretty a lot. It had been worrying him. He knew he had taken some kind of injection again on the few moments of consciousness he had previously, but he didn’t knew what it was or why. The other injections he had been taking had all been on his arms, not on his spine, and any of them hurt this much. He still hadn’t got the connection between them and the experience they wanted to do to him, but at least they seemed to not be making effect till now.

 

Damn, he hated to admit it, but he was scared. He thought he couldn’t take much more, each minute in this place seemed to become more and more unbearable. He never wanted to end on that torture room again, but if they tried to do anything with him, he didn’t think he could not fight. And then, to worse it even more, if it was possible to get worse, Rin showed up. He couldn’t believe this idiot really did it. It would only be a bother. Now he must not only think of a way to save his own skin but a way to save Rin too.

 

And God, it was already more than proved he couldn’t even save himself.

 

“Maybe it would be better this way” Haru didn’t actually mean it, but Rin got mad.

 

“Is it so?” Rin crawled on his direction, eyes glistening with anger, and almost grabbed Haru by the collar “Is it the worth you give to your life? When everyone out there is giving their asses off to find you?” He wanted to scold him some more, but the tears didn’t let him continue. Haru seemed surprised.

 

“Rin... I’m sorry” Rin wanted to go on at how much of a selfish jerk he was, that he wasn’t crying for him, but for Makoto, that he finally couldn’t push away from his mind anymore. He had been shot to save Haru, and then this idiot had the guts to say he didn’t care about dying. Rin couldn’t say it, though, because even if Haru was an idiot he didn’t wanted to worse his situation that were already miserable enough into knowing his best friend was dead. It hurt badly enough on him already.

 

Without knowing what to do, Haru raised his hand with the intention of putting it on Rin’s shoulder, but he dismissed it. Rin wiped the tears with the back of his hands.

 

“Haru... your hands. What happened to them?”

 

“I... tried to escape” Haru pulled his hand back quickly, pulling the long sleeves down to hide them. Rin looked at him in disbelief. He was having trouble connecting the dots and find sense on this whole situation.

 

“Haru, what’s this place? What these people want with you?”

 

Haru swallowed. There was no way he could tell Rin, even because it doesn't made any sense at all. How in hell would he tell his friend that weird woman he saw wanted to make him pregnant in the most literal and bizarre and horrible meaning of the word? No, no way he would tell it. Only imagining himself saying such a thing made his ears burn from embarrassment. However, one thing bothered him more than it now. Why did she asked for Rin’s blood? She said that she wanted to make a experience out of him, and different from him, that idiot had ended up there for his own account. However, he hadn’t any doubt that, if she got too much interested on his blood, she could invent some even crazier experience to do to him. Haru wouldn’t let this happen. Whatever it could cost him, he wouldn’t.

 

 

“I don’t know” He lied. Rin sighed, not exactly buying it.

 

“This place is scary. There are more people down there... and why everyone here dress like they were going to a costume party or something?”

 

“Rin. Don’t get involved. These people are dangerous, it’s different from everything you have seen before. Please, if they do ask you anything else, I beg you, don’t--” Haru spoke in an urgent tone. It wasn’t usual from him to beg, but Rin didn’t even want to know as he grabbed his arm and forced Haru to look at him.

 

“You know what they want, don’t you? Then why are you are hiding it from me? What is it in this story you don’t want me to know?”

 

Haru jerked his arm away with violence, and Rin stepped back. Haru lowered his head, gluing his eyes to the mattress below him. Clicking his tongue, Rin let him and went to lean himself on the bed headboard. Haru was shivering slightly. Oh, how much he hated it. What Rin said was not a lie, he knew, everyone were looking for him and he was the one to blame for making them all worry. He wished he could say it was not his business, but he knew it was. That was why at sometimes Haru wished he hadn’t any friends. People were troublesome, if it were like this, he wouldn’t need to worry about anyone, nor would them be sticking their nose onto his life--

 

Suddenly, something soft covered his head.

 

“If you haven’t realized yet, you are burning. Put this on and get rid of this fever”

 

Haru watched Rin's features for a while, and such kept his eyes fixated on the wall in order to averting his gaze. He were frowning. A weak, almost imperceptible shade of blue grew on Haru’s eyes. Obeying, he put the hoodie on and laid down right there where he was, not bothering Rin was taking a good space of the bed. Now, comfortably embraced by the soft fabric, he noticed the sound of Rin's breathing. On the latest days, he had become used to the room being so silent at most part he could hear his own heartbeat, but now, he could hear Rin breathe and snort irritatedly once in a while. There was something more he felt. The unpleasant and moldy smell that had been replaced by a nice cherry and mint perfume on Rin’s hoodie. Deep down, he thought he could also feel a familiar smell of chlorine. Familiar... and nice...

 

“...Haru?”

 

And, for the first time since his kidnapping, Haru fell into a deep sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologizes for the late update! Unfortunately they are going to keep slow for a while, because I really need to study to get in university ;--; But I have planned the next five chapters now, so it's not all bad news...
> 
> I wanted to link a pic of the character I have in mind while writing Victoria, so who want could have a better idea of her face, but I couldn't find any online... guess it's a way of the spirits say to me 'stop finding excuses to give these characters too much screen scene *sweats* But I may try uploading one myself later.


	13. Stretchers and perverted tricks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *knock knock*... Is there someone still interested on this fic?
> 
> I'm sorry for not updating in so long. Well, I just hope this chapter is at least acceptable *sweats*
> 
>  
> 
> **Warning: This chapter contains themes that, by the context of the story, may be strong or triggering for some. Don't read if you are sensitive to this kind of content. Thank you.**

Haru woke in a jump as he heard a noise coming from the door, and immediately scolded himself for having allowed himself to fall asleep. How could he have been so careless? After all the effort he had been doing to keep himself awake... However, it wasn’t the door or the greyish wall he saw when he opened his eyes, but Rin’s back, that had protectively placed himself in front of him while he was asleep.

 

Putting himself on a sitting position and crawling to his side, Haru noticed a plate lying on the floor. His eyes widened and, apparently, Rin shared the same reaction. What was surprising wasn’t the presence of the plate itself, but what was on it.

 

“Mackerel!? It is a joke, and one of really bad taste, isn’t it?” but despite the shocked tone on Rin’s voice, it wasn’t a joke, after all. Picking the plate from the ground, Haru confirmed it was two pieces of fish, deliciously cooked in a way that wouldn’t even in a million years resemble a prisoner’s food. If he had been in any other place, Haru would have his mouth watering, but on the actual situation it only made him have goosebumps.

 

“Were they really stalking you? How do they know the food you like?”

 

“I would like to say they weren’t, but...” Haru poked the fish with a disgusted expression, like if the fish would in any moment come back to life and start jumping around the room. To Rin’s horror, all he did next was pick it up and take a bite.

 

“HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY??? It’s the most suspicious thing I’ve ever seen and you go putting it on your mouth??”

 

“Rin” He replied, with his usual collected voice “I’ve been eating what they give me since I came here. It’s not it that will kill me.”

 

Rin still found it crazy, but after a moment, he shut himself. Haru must be hungry, because he had never seen him eat mackerel in such a grudgingly way. It looked more as if he was eating paper than the fish he adored.

 

Haru was also not so naive to not have any suspicious about it. He knew the reason they feed him were not because they were good or nice, but because he needed to be healthy - that was also why he wasn’t afraid to eat what they gave him. However, mackerel was **very** weird, not only because it confirmed he had been being stalked but because it could be _anything_ else. It must be just another extravagance of _that_ woman, he thought, but there was another thing bothering him: the fact Rin had also received food. It was hard to believe they were doing it for kindness, and the possibility of Rin being involved in an experience scared him. A lot.

 

Feeling a bit sick, Haru finished his piece of the fish and recoiled back to his side of the bed. He wasn’t feeling sleepy at all, but he should think a bit. To be honest, he was tired of thinking of ways to get out of there, but he hadn't many options. At least, maybe that would help distracting him from that uncomfortable feeling on his stomach. It was certainly because of Rin havind scared him about the food.

 

Or maybe it could be intuition. But he would only think about it twelve minutes later.

 

It didn't took much for Rin to notice. It was enough to hear Haru’s breathing becoming suddenly heavier, and look at him, all curled up on the bed’s edge, the sweat drenching his body glistening even on the weak light, to know something was **_very_** wrong with him.

 

“...Haru?”

 

“I-I’m fine” the answer came after he called a second time. It was obvious he wasn’t fine. Haru’s voice always had an unwavering tone that often irritated Rin, but it was totally the opposite of how he sounded now. Rin attempted to touch his shoulder, but he moved away.

 

“Don’t touch me. I-I’m just... feeling a bit hot...” Haru disentangled the hoodie away from himself clumsily, and Rin could see the shirt he wore underneath was all glued to his body due to the sweat. Besides it, his cheeks were tinted pink, and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. Rin had never seen him like that. He had already seen Haru blushing and breathless from swimming countless times, but it was nothing like that. He looked so... unconfortable. Until then, Rin hadn’t noticed, but as his eyes unconsciously lowered, falling down right between Haru’s legs, he suddenly understood everything and became red as a tomato. Noticing the gaze, Haru blushed, too, and more than quick stood up.

 

“I-I need to go to the bathroom” Haru was fast, but Rin was more on holding him by the arm.

 

“Haru. _What the fuck_ is this?”

 

“I-it’s none of your business” Haru pulled at his arm, refusing to look at him. Damn, he hadn't much time to lose there. His body was _burning_ , and the air around him seemed to get thicker and thicker by each second. Rin could never have seen it. Just from knowing it Haru wanted to dig a hole and die from shame right now and there, but to worse it even more, some cursed part of his brain said the sensation wasn't _bad at all_. In fact, it were almost _pleading_ him to lean more on Rin's touch.

 

Rin pulled him again, wanting to force Haru to look at him, and In turn, Haru turned harshly, trying to pull him away, but realized terrified his strenght had completely left him. It only gave Rin more room to push and trap him against the wall. He must have been thinking he knew why that was happening, but he had no idea why the fuck his body was reacting like that. It must have been that damned fish, but why, he didn't know.

 

“Haru” he hadn't strength to fight against his stubbornness. His legs felt like they were going to stop working. Then, who knows if it was by impulse or simply because he hated the questioning way Rin was staring at his face, Haru suddenly pulled Rin closer, leaning on him and hiding his face on the crook of his neck. Rin completely froze.

 

“What the...”

 

“ _Rin,_ ” Haru groaned, voice husky. “what’s happening with me?”

 

“Idiot, you have been drugged! Go take care of this!” Forgetting what he had just been doing, Rin pushed him towards the bathroom, but Haru refused to realease him. _Oh, damn_ , of course this freak would be too proud to do something like this in front of him. Maybe it was really a dream, Rin screamed to himself, and he just knew it wasn't because even if he had already maybe dreamed a similar thing some time ago, on certain confusing days, it would never be on _these_ circumstances.

 

“Listen, it’s not time to be stubborn. Do you have an idea of what’s gonna happen if they find you on this state?” Haru didn’t answer, but gave him a pinch that served for him to know how much he wanted him to shut his mouth (and stop squeezing, please because it were only making everything worse). Rin huffed, irritated at seeing how his pride spoke louder than everything, and stood there, holding Haru in a clumsy position, trying to think of a way to get rid of that as faster as possible and not touch him more than necessary. Unconsciously, Haru tightened his hands around Rin again, groaning as the sensation hit him stronger, and then, Rin threw all his restraints out of the window.

 

“Aah, damn... Haru, I hate you...” Haru had no time to process what he had just said before Rin slid his hand under the long shirt and grabbed his member, stroking him shamelessly. Haru's first desire was to punch him, but the relief was so overwhelming that the thought didn’t last a second. All he managed to do was to squirm in pure pleasure. _He had never felt like this before._

 

“R-Rin, stop it!” Haru’s arms felt weak as he tried to push Rin away. He couldn’t let such a humiliating act happen there, yet with the drug dominating his organism, it was impossible to resist. The feeling of Rin's hand on him was too good, and Haru almost howled -he would have howled, if he hadn’t bite Rin’s shoulder in order to hold back. And now, Rin couldn’t leave his ground anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

Rin was worried.

 

He was worried because, after all the mess of Haru’s disappearance and Makoto’s murdering (fuck, great time to think about this), he found Haru in a strange place filled of crazy people, only to be locked up with a very drugged and horny version of him. Things couldn’t possibly get anymore messed up. He just wanted to help Haru getting rid of 'this' before someone saw it, _because who knows what they could do if they saw it,_ but it was getting more and more difficult to think about this. He could feel his own body reacting, and kept saying to himself he wasn’t so nasty to the point of feeling it for his rival, but in truth, at this point he didn’t know anything anymore. He made up for the frustration by going even faster, and Haru reacted.

 

Rin squeezed the sensitive skin, and Haru sunk his tiny teeth on him. He shuddered, but still did the best he could to save the few of dignity he had left, in at least not letting any pathetic sound out of his throat. It would be worse if Rin saw his face, so he resisted the urge of arching his back and grind against that touch. _God,_ this was wrong in so many levels. It was almost painful how strong was his need, but he couldn't surrender to it. He could not submit to such an humiliation. Haru felt familiar creeps on his stomach, and knew what was about to come. Shaking, he moved to try to take Rin’s hands off his body, but his willpower wasn't big enough, and before he could realize, his hands were on top of Rin’s, helping him move. Rin was trying his best to focus on something else that wasn’t the hot breathing against his back nor the moist feeling of Haru's lips around his skin, so he didn’t even noticed his move. It was too hot, too fast, and the grip so agonizingly good that for a moment Haru forgot the shame, the fear and wherever he was and...

 

It were only after it was over, and he saw Rin staring at his hand painted white with a blushing face, that he felt **really** ashamed.

 

Still a bit dizzy because of the drug effect, Haru crawled to the opposite corner of the room, the shudder on his legs so strong he almost tripped. He choose a position in which he didn’t have to face Rin. A really bad feeling grew inside of him, and it wasn’t because of what they had just done.

 

“...Why the hell they did this?” Knowing Haru, Rin didn't really expected an answer. Actually, Haru also didn’t know. Not at all. All he had were only suppositions. Haru wasn’t any model biology student, but wasn't so stupid to not know the basic relation between pregnancy and ‘that thing’ staining Rin’s hands. But he and Rin were both man, and it was not going to happen, even if they had taken it to a whole other level, like he imagined to be that woman's intentions. _Even_ i _f Rin had eaten his other half of the fish_. Even with all the injections he had been taking, it would be impossible. It seemed nonsensical to force them to do something of this kind.

 

But now that he stopped to think, how the hell they even planned to make it happen?

 

 _They did that to show how much control they have over your body_. He had another idea of why they had done this, and it didn’t please him, nor even a bit.

 

He needed to get them out of there. _Fast and he was running out of time._

 

 

\-------------

 

 

“Waaaah, Mako-chan! For a moment I thought we had lost a member of the swim club!”

 

“I’m fine now, Nagisa. Don’t cry” Makoto smiled weakly to the friend who was sobbing loudly clutched to his chest. The strength in which Nagisa squeezed him was enough to hurt, but Makoto didn’t have enough courage to push him away.

 

In truth, fine was not a exactly good word to describe Makoto’s state. He was on the hospital, and for what he been informed, hadn’t died by the skin of his teeth. He was found laying on the street, close to the corpse of one of the guys he had fought, with two bullets within his body and bleeding a lot. The doctor was very clear when he said that what saved him were the pure luck of the police having arrived on that exact moment and none of the bullets having hit any of his vital organs. Even if that wasn’t said, it would take just a look at the swollen eyes of the boys before him to know the risk he had been in.

 

However, truth to be told, the last thing Makoto felt right now was like a lucky boy.

 

Because he was safe, but Rin wasn’t.

 

By what he learned, the police combed the area after he was sent to emergency, but besides blood and a few broken teeth, there was zero sign of Rin. The van had also been found later, sunken on a river on the road leaving Iwatobi, but there weren’t any conclusive evidence, nor anything that could help finding Rin or the ones that escaped. But now Makoto also knew that, besides those guys, there was someone more involved on Haru’s kidnapping- he heard his voice, and felt him before he passed out. However, he hadn't saw him, and couldn’t prove this man existed. This meant everything he and Rin did served only to prove they had been stupids. Ok, it was cruel to call Rin stupid right now, but if it had gotten them anywhere closer to finding out where Haru was, but there was nothing. They only managed to worse it ten times more.

 

“Mako-chan. It was for Haru-chan, wasn’t it?” Makoto nodded. “did you find something?”

 

“No, Nagisa. Only that Rei guesses were right” Rei was startled, but soon cringed in shame. He didn’t feel proud about this. Makoto kept his eyes down. “It’s... my fault. If I have done things right, Rin wouldn’t have...”

 

“Don’t say that, Makoto-senpai!” Rei got worked up ”You did the best you could to save them! You could not imagine you were dealing with such dangerous people!”

 

“Yeah, Mako-chan.” Nagisa adjusted his body back to the chair “you were only trying to help. None of this is your fault.”

 

 _Still, if I had fought better, I could have saved him._ If he had at least seen the face of that strange man...

 

Suddenly, Makoto noticed a blue fabric forgotten on the chair on the corner.

 

“Oh, we forgot” Rei hurried to take it “They have found Haruka-senpai’s jacket close to where you was. They thought it was yours, so we could have it...”

 

“Can’t they use this for...!?”

 

Rei shook his head.

 

“There’s no fingerprints on it. Nor even his.”

 

Makoto picked the fabric on his hands. It was right- the jacket had been washed, clean like if it had never been used before. Even the chlorine scent Haru always carried with him had disappeared completely. Makoto felt a lump on his throat.

 

_Completely useless._

 

His vision blurred.

 

“Guys... I’m sorry” Makoto covered his face with his hands, trying to hide the tears welling on his eyes “I need some time alone.”

 

Rei laid his hand on Nagisa’s shoulder, signing for them to leave. Nagisa hesitated, but complied.

 

 

\---------

 

 

“Nagisa-kun, what do you think about all this?” Rei asked as they were leaving the hospital.

 

“Obviously I’m not happy, Rei-chan. I was so scared when Mako-chan’s mother called saying he was in the hospital. Why do you ask?”

 

“I’m... shocked. When I suggested something like this, I could never imagine they would do what they did,” Guns and cold-blooded murder had always seemed something far from their reality. He could never imagine things would get this serious, much less that Rin and Makoto would jump in the middle of it without even thinking about the risks. Rin was even possible, but Makoto, Rei's mind refused to imagine his gentle senpai getting involved on a street fight “It’s scary.”

 

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Rei-chan. Now, the police have a lot of clues. Soon they will find them, I’m sure!”

 

“I’m not so sure” Rei wasn’t convinced. It was obvious it was a case of kidnapping. The police was slow. He didn’t think they had all this time to wait. “This is going too much beyond our reach, Nagisa-kun. I don’t think it’s something we can solve...”

 

“Then we will search for help, someone else, anything! I just can’t wait! Rin and Haru-chan are still alive, and someone needs to find them!” Rei gave a step back, surprised with Nagisa’s sudden outburst. He was crying, too, but different from Makoto, he didn’t care the slightest about holding back. “I...I miss them. They can’t be gone, I won’t accept it”

Rei laid his hand on Nagisa’s shoulder, letting him sob as loud as he wished. He was completely lost. This incident had took much greater proportions than he had foreseen. The most logical thing to do would be waiting, but how could they just wait? He had no idea how he would comfort Makoto and Nagisa, nor Gou that would surely breakdown when she learned about what happened to her brother. Speaking about Rin, he wasn’t even there to help anymore.

 

What was he going to do?

 

 

\-----------

 

 

At an uncertain distance from there, a certain trio watched with very attention the image of the two teenagers on the camera before them. In the place they were, it was impossible to hear the heavy breathing of the duo.

 

“My, my, such stubborn kids” Victoria sighed happily. Her face were slightly colored pink “but it was a very interesting show to watch.”

 

“I warned you it wouldn’t work” Makoto, the tall doctor, grumbled. He didn’t move away from the place he had been standing with crossed arms. “You are being reckless, Victoria. This redhead guy have family. People on the surface will search for him like crazy”

 

“Wait, were you really planning to take 'that' this way!??” the third person spoke, his speech much less refined than the other two. The jailer.

 

“It’s not a matter of worry. We will resort to the traditional method. The redhead will cooperate... I will take only a minute to put it together with the pieces I have already”

 

The jailer shrunk. He never understood well what she said, but he seriously believed it was better not to. Deep inside, he even felt some kind of... sympathy for that blue eyed guy.

 

“I think we are wasting time” the jailer groaned “we should take what we need and throw this guy’s corpse somewhere easy to find! It would be more than enough to distract the cops.”

 

“And lose such a splendid body? No way” Victoria laughed “Quit being cowards, Makoto, Miggs. Nobody is ever going to find us. And even if they do... would they come in time to save someone?” she threw the doctor a glance “As far as I know, you have never worked with a male doll, have you?”

 

The doctor’s eyes glistened. The jailer shrugged.

 

“Everything is ready for the last stage of the experiment. Prepare the surgery room.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye back (◡‿◡✿)


	14. The hare and the doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!! Even if you don't celebrate it, I hope you have a great day filled with the things you love ~♥

_Tump._

 

Haruka was staring at a small hole on the wall, without actually seeing it. On the first minutes, he had been waiting for Rin and the men that came to take him to take some distance from the room, but he remained immobile for a while longer only because of the torpor that involved him.

 

_Tump._

 

It took him some time to realize the sound he heard weren't from their footsteps, but from his own heartbeat, and finally get into action.

 

Pushing himself off the curled position he was, Haru picked the worn chair behind the door (getting very satisfied at noticing its weight) and carried it to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He would need to muffle as much noise as possible. So, reuniting all the strenght he could, he hit it against the wall, again and again, till he felt the chair’s legs start to wobble. With one more hit, the chair broke into pieces. Haru quickly reunited and hid them on the wooden tub, keeping only one of the chair's leg with him. He threw a look filled with sadness to the dry wood. Oh, how much he wanted a bath. He felt absolutely gross.

 

Haru then proceeded to take off the shirt and hoodie, realizing, much to his horror, that the front of Rin’s hoodie were dirty by their earlier ‘incident’. He could wash it when he came home, he thought, but probably he wouldn’t be capable of making it any less repulsive. He only hoped Rin didn't like it that much. Using the shirt’s sleeves, Haru gave a knot around the broken chair’s leg and tied it around his body, right in the middle of his back, and stretched and twisted his body to see if it would keep in place. It did.

 

“Hey, Boy,” Haruka jumped when he suddenly heard the voice coming from the other side of the door, already calming as soon as he noticed it was only the jailer. “Are you there?”

 

“Y-yes” Haru replied, feeling slightly shaky by the fright. Quickly, Haru put the hoodie over the apparatus he had just made (ignoring the disgust he felt about it) and left. The moment he stepped out of the bathroom, the jailer stared at him from top to bottom, averting his eyes awkwardly on the place where the hoodie didn’t cover. Pretending to not care, Haru sat back on the bed, being careful to not turn his back to him. Suspicious, the jailer looked in the bathroom, but came back even more confused as he found nothing.

 

“Where’s Rin?” Haru asked calmly.

 

“Geez, can you just stop asking things?" the jailer complained, annoyed "but well, if you’re talking about your friend, I would say he’s very well now” he made a gesture with his hand that made Haru blush. Haru threw him an irritate glance in response.

 

“Don’t make this face. If I were you, I would be more concerned about myself. They’re gonna come to get you soon.”

 

 _Me?_  Damn, that was even less time than he thought he had. He had to be fast.

 

“What’s gonna happen with him?” Haru asked, trying to keep him distracted.

 

“Whoa, I wouldn’t ask this if I were you! Are you sure you want to know the answer? I bet you don’t.”

 

Haruka rolled his eyes, this time getting irritated himself.

 

"Well, I talked to boss earlier today" the jailer continued "but she-"

 

“I’m hungry” the jailer turned to Haru, that simply stared back with the biggest poker face possible. For a brief moment, it seemed the jailer were willing to punch Haru or insult him by the worst name possible, but instead he went to grab the food, mumbling under his breath that _this wasn’t a fucking hotel._

 

The moment the jailer turned his back to him, Haru took the piece of wood off his shirt and attacked.

 

The jailer feel, and, when he tried to get up, Haru hit him once again, and this time the man stopped moving. Haru stood still, heart thundering on his chest, a bitter taste on his mouth by what he had just done. _He had never been violent before._ But he didn’t let his mind wander about it for long. Quickly, he grabbed the keys from the jailer’s pocket and dashed towards the door, but before he reached it, cold fingers wrapped around his ankle, and Haru tripped, his improvised weapon flying far.

 

“YOUR SON OF A BITCH,” the jailer’s fingers sunk on the injuries on his feet, making Haru hiss in pain. "You will pay for this, they are gonna lock you on those dirty cages and impregnate you like a bitch and--”

 

Haru used his free foot to kick him away, but nothing doesn't matter how hard he did it, he could get the man to release him. Crawling, Haru searched on the ground for the chair’s leg, struggling to move despite the jailer pulling him back, and as soon as his hands reached it he drove it on the jailer’s face, making the man immediately release him, cringing away in pain. More than fast, Haru ran out of the room, locking the door behind him.

 

_Now, there was no going back._

 

It was his third attempt to escape. If he failed now, he wouldn't ever be given a chance like this again. Not to mention his punishment would much be worse than before.

 

Trying to be fast and silent at the same time, Haru crossed the empty corridor, going to the main circular hall. He wouldn't make the same mistake as before. Lock the jailer would gave him some time to find Rin, but again, he couldn’t stay exposed, and if he entered any of the dozen doors mindlessly there were the risk of getting into another trap like before. What made it difficult was he still hadn't a clue of where were things on this place. He needed to find a way to localize Rin, save him and find the exit on that giant place before someone noticed he had escaped. It was discouragingly hard, however, it still didn’t bring him down.

 

Suddenly, there was a noise on the corridor below him, and Haruka panicked, throwing himself on the ground as he had no place where he could hide. If someone went up, he was screwed. However, it didn’t happen. Very carefully, Haru craned his neck to peek inside the hole on the ground. On the floor below, there were two of their men, chatting between themselves. Luckily, no one looked up.

 

“Gosh, this place and it’s damned architecture... They asked me to get something in the deposit, but I cant find where it is.”

 

“Take a look on that room over there” the other pointed to a door on his left “there’s a map inside.”

 

“I tried, but there’s nobody there. It’s locked.”

 

“Fine, fine. Come on, I’m gonna take you there”

 

As soon as the men disappeared from vision, soft and silent like a cat, Haru sneaked to the floor below and to said door. To his relief, he confirmed that he had that key. He entered after a quick inspection to guarantee he wasn’t getting into trouble again.

 

It wasn’t the same room he had been tortured, but it was strangely alike. A big room with a surgical table on the middle, and walls filled with workbenches and shelves with substances and tools (including pliers Haru didn’t keep good memories of). The difference laid on the chains and hooks, apparently with no use, hanging from the ceiling, and from the red curtain strangely positioned on the back of the room. It didn't really matter to Haru, but to worse even more oddness he felt about that place, he noticed were several ragdolls, scattered around the room, each of them dressed and looking different. He didn't stop to think what that could mean.

 

At first, Haru felt irritated, wondering how the hell he was supposed to find a map on that enormous room, but after a moment of better absorbing his surroundings, he noticed it wasn’t on a hard place, after all. It was a small black panel glued on one of the walls, with dozen small squares and a colorful flashing led. It wasn’t very clear, but he could understand. There he could see the floors and the rooms, by what he understood, he was on the second and what he imagined to be the exit were on the last. Rin must be on the one written "cells", that was one floor down - at least, he hoped from the bottom of his heart, ‘cause he didn’t have time to look around for anywhere more complicated. Go down, pick Rin, go up again and escape. He didn't’ have any second to lose. An hopeful part of him couldn't stop thinking about the long bath he would take when he reached home.

 

However, when Haru was turning to leave, a black folder abandoned over the workbench called his attention. He didn't have time for this. However, he couldn't turn his eyes away from the overly familiar shade of blue peeking out of the folder.

 

Haru took the folder on his hands and opened it. To his shock, inside he found two more photos- one, he should have already expected he would get to see at some point: the one with him and Rin outside the coffee shop. The camera captured Haru looking at Rin with a silly expression. The other, he didn’t remember noticing it had been taken, thought his pained expression indicated he had been conscious, and was quite disturbing: it shown himself, full-body, tied and naked on the floor of a dirty cage. He felt an uncomfortable mix of shame and hatred of be being forced into such humiliation. However, the picture he saw peeking out of the book were the one which surprised him the most- even thought, in theory, it was the simplest of them all. It were just a picture of his class on the swim club he attended as a kid, him and Makoto on the middle of the group of kids, the blue he recognized being from the wall paint. But how had them even got their hands on that photo? Haru could not imagine a reason for them to look for his children pictures, specially this one that should be lost in the club he swam only when he was very small. Hadn't the club even been demolished? Was this all really needed to plan a kidnapping? He also couldn’t imagine they have been keeping the photo since that time, and that idea made him want to throw up.

 

_It was impossible they had been planning this with him since he was a kid._

_God, for how long had he been stalked?_

There were one more loose picture, that Haru recognized as being from the man that tried strangling him back then. It was torn in half.

However, he didn’t closed the folder. Because below the loose pictures he picked on his hands, there were more, glued to the paper, just that these weren’t about him. Not directly. Haru didn’t even notice he had been holding his breath as he kept looking at it with morbid curiosity.

They were his “surgery mates”. The guys they had tried to impregnate before him.

Aligned on the paper, pictures shown normal and beautiful men, only much older than Haru. Probably how they were before they were kidnapped. However, on the right of each one, there was another picture, where he could practically only see the chins of their faces. These were creepy. The first man appeared tied on a dirty floor, a small scar decorating the middle of his stomach. Haru felt an uneasy tingling on his own. Under both images, there was a writing in red: _Cause of death: necrosis._

A shudder went up Haruka's spine. The air on the room seemed to get thicker.

 

The next one made him squirm. This time the man had a very swollen belly. If Haru had seen it anywhere else, he would have imagined it to be just a person with worms, a really bad case of it, but the ugly black stitches made way too clear what was happening there. It looked disgustingly alike the 'creature' he had found the room before. Maybe it were the same person, though for Haru this man were probably already dead when they took that picture. A black, thin thread of blood ran between the black stitches. Under it, it was written: _Body unable to withstand fetal growth._

 

Haru closed the book with trembling hands. There were more to see, but he didn’t want to know.

 

How many people had those demons killed building this sick folder?

 

_And he were going to be a part of it?_

_No fucking way._

 

Trying to calm his ragged breath, Haru accidentally looked up, noticing a detail he didn't before.

 

There were one of the ragdolls on the workbench besides him. What he hadn’t noticed was the fact this doll had red hair and, despite being clearly still unfinished, an obvious sharp grin was sketched on it's stuffed face.

 

As Haru moved to touch it, the piece of wood he had been holding slipped from sweaty hands, and fell on the floor, rolling under the curtains. Giving up on it and losing any more time on this room, Haru pulled the curtains off to it back and get out of this room as fast as possible.

 

Till he froze when he saw what was behind it.

 

If making the same mistake twice was stupid, then Haru definitely were one.

 

 

 

 

 

_Are you sure you want to know the answer? I bet you don’t._

 

 

 

_We are all doctors and scientists from the underworld, tired from the annoying rules and morals from up there. And you wouldn't believe the kind of people who search for our products there._

 

 

 

 

_If 'Makoto' gets to be the one to take care of you, 'ya better find a way to stop breathing first._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_A little doll with red hair and a sharp grin._

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Rin._

 

 

 

 

_RinRinRinRinRIN_

 

 

 

“It seems a certain distracted little bunny entered the wrong room again.” Haru was so dizzy that it took a second for his body react after he heard the deep voice behind him. Overcome by fear and hatred, Haru wielded the wood and dashed towards the doctor, but with a kick the man sent Haru flying to the opposite wall, hitting his back on the shelf and crashing to the ground. Tolls and glasses fell from the shelves and shattered all over him. The doctor strode towards Haru, that desperately tried to get up.

 

“Ignorance is such a blessing, isn’t it? There it goes my plans of properly introducing you to my girls... we would have plenty of time after your belly started growing.”

 

“Bastard...” Haru hissed between teeth, trying to shake off the glass shreds over him as he lifted his trembling body.

 

“Not that I want you to become something like this.” The doctor stepped dangerously close to him “But some men have pretty bizarre tastes, what can I do? I actually don't know what Victoria sees of so appealing in making a guy pregnant... but you have lovely legs and arms. I would love to watch you squirm under me if we were in a more comfortable place.” Haru raised his hand to the piece of wood on the floor, but the doctor placed his feet over it before Haru could touch it.

 

“I give you five minutes” Haru’s eyes widened, but the man seemed very serious about it. "C'mon, go save yourself. I'm gonna give you one last chance to show how we are merciful."

 

Haru didn’t lose time questioning. He got up and dashed out of the door. He needed to find Rin **now**. Haru thought he never felt his heart beating so fast in his life, not even when he swam an important race. If he were alone, Haru would seriously consider the jailer's advice and try killing himself on some way, but he couldn't, because he needed to save Rin. He couldn't allow him to have such a fate.

 

Moved by fear, Haru reached the cells lightning fast. Luckily the main door wasn’t locked, what spared him a few minutes. As he ran along the corridor, confused people inside the cells turned to look at him, and Haruka ignored them. He knew he couldn’t save these people. If he stopped, he would sacrifice himself.

 

 

“Hey, boy” a miserable called from within one of the cells. “help me.”

 

 

He wasn’t selfish.

 

 

_But he still remembered very well of the cold bars against his skin._

 

 

“Take me out, please. I will give you anything you want in charge, money, anything. Just take me out there."

 

 

_The gross taste of the food being shoved down his throat. The injection on his spine. The humiliation of seeing his body being manipulated and unable to do nothing to stop it._

 

 

Haru closed his eyes, and ran faster.

 

Suddenly, Haru heard a voice calling for his name, and when he finally saw the unmistakable scarlet hair, the relief was so great he almost teared up.

 

“Oi,  what happened to you?” Rin’s eyes widened at Haru’s dirty clothes and hair covered by tiny specks of glass as he fought with the keys on the cell’s gate. The gleam on his eyes were so strong for a minute Rin imagined he saw tears. “Are you okay?”

 

“We’ve got no time for this, c’mon!” Haru dragged him out of the cell, and they crossed as fast as they could. As Haru pulled Rin by the stairs, Rin in any moment asked if he knew where he was going. Suddenly, Haru faltered on his steps, and he instinctively grasped Rin's arm to not fall. Worried, Rin motioned to stop to help him, but Haru ignored him, proceeding to drag him even faster by the hallways. It were his feet- It hurt terribly to run, but it wasn't like he could stop running. He remembered the images of the men with mutilated bellies, and the fear served as an impulse for him to go faster.

 

When they finally reached the last floor, Haru immediately started looking for the exit, and it took just a second for him to look up: A trapdoor, with a padlock the size of his fist. Haru frowned, planning how the hell he would reach it, but Rin didn’t lose time: he grabbed Haru and raised him on his shoulders, pushing him towards it. Haru’s hands trembled so much he barely could hit the keyhole as he tried the keys, his despair growing as he discarded one after another. None seemed to work. Meanwhile, the noise on the floors below were only becoming louder. The five minutes had already ran out.

 

“SHIT” Haru groaned, punching the metal violently, hoping by miracle it would make it open.

 

“Ahh, damn, come” Rin pulled Haru back and dragged him off the hallway. They ran back to the stairs, but stopped, panicking, as they heard someone climbing it. They turned to run again, but when Haru put his feet on the ground, the subtle pain attacked making him fall.

 

“Haru!”

 

“IDIOT! RUN!!” Haru shouted, but before any of them could move, they had been cornered by and armed group.

 

“Get back!” Rin roared, running to Haru who was struggling to get up.

 

“Even with my help... But I guess it would be too much to expect you to escape with a injured paw”

 

Rin got up to face the doctor, but when the man stepped closer, Haru pulled Rin back and jumped in front of him, shielding him. Both Rin and the doctor looked surprised.

 

“Stay away” Haru huffed. He couldn’t peek Rin’s expression behind him, but he was sure it was so angry for his audacity of trying to protect him. “It’s me that you need, isn’t it? Let Rin go, and I will let you... do the experience.”

 

“HARU!” Rin growled.

 

“You’re being a little audacious, aren’t you, bunny? You are not free to negotiate with us” The doctor gave him a cold glare.

 

“Then, I will kill myself!” Haru advanced to the closest person, grabbing the gun’s barrel and putting it below his own chin. Everyone froze on their tracks.

 

“Naughty... but we are doctors, remember? You may not die if you do that. It will be even worse.” The doctor laughed nervously, and Haru grinned. He adjusted the gun under his face in defiance. “Why are you so mad? We are being so nice with you... Victoria even allowed you to have a baby of someone you like, instead of---”

 

"W-what?" Rin stuttered.

 

“SHUT UP!!!” Before the doctor could finish, Haru pulled at the gun and pointed it to him, but the instant he pulled the trigger the man holding it pulled it back, causing the bullet to explode on the ceiling. It was enough distraction for the others to grab and separate him and Rin. Haru squirmed, despairing when they simply pinned RIn down and punched his face. One of them threw him a kick on the stomach so he stopped moving.

 

“Leave him alone!” Haru cried out. Rin received another kick, and they started beating him only for fun. Trapped, Rin couldn’t fight back. One of them grabbed Rin’s arm as twisted it over his back, till he heard Rin scream as his bone break.

 

“STOP THIS!!” Haru screamed, tears blurring his vision. Laugher and Rin's screams of agony dominated the place, blood staining his shirt and face, mixing with his hair color. Haru closed his eyes. He could do nothing to stop them. If he could just stop listening, however, it wasn't possible. Unsatisfied with his reaction, the doctor grabbed Haru by the neck and forced him to look, his grip tight enough to make him gasp for air.

 

“Poor kids... so much effort to save their precious little friends, but they are nothing more than kids..." The doctor rambled, knowing how much it disturbed Haru "maybe if he had died with that other kid, it would have been a better ending.... what was his name? The same as mine?”

 

Haruka thought he hadn’t heard well. He felt like the world was spinning slow, very slow.

 

 

_Makoto had died?_

 

 

 

_Why?_

 

 

 _Why was it happening?_ Haru thought bitterly. _What I have done deserve something like this?_

_..._

_What have they done?_

 

_This should be happening to me only. Not them. It’s my fault. I attracted those people. I killed Makoto, and I’m killing Rin too. Its all my fault._

 

Rin's shrill scream echoed thought the room again, and Haru averted his gaze. He couldn't look anymore.

 

 “Enough. If we lose anymore time, Victoria will be furious." The doctor ordered, releasing Haru's neck and pushing him on the ground "Take the other guy to a proper cell.”

 

Haru weakly raised his face to look at Rin’s bloody form, and guilt overcame him once more. He tried to call Rin's name, but the voice that left his sore throat were low as a whisper. Anyway, Rin wasn't hearing anymore.

 

_When I will get out of this hell?_

 

Haru barely fought back as he was dragged by the corridors by the feet. He had no strength, both on his body and soul. Everything inside of him was drown into sadness.

 

He was taken somewhere the lighting was blinding strong. He could have imagined it was death, if it wasn’t the cold metal under him and the sting sensation on his vein he knew too well. Also, by what he learned on this place, the tick tack of hells where the sound the devil made, so the only place he could be were still in hell.

 

Shaking, Haru struggled to open his eyes, and saw an IV bag hanging besides him. A clear liquid lazily ran down it’s way towards him.

 

 

Ping.

 

 

Ping.

 

 

Ping.

 

 

 

 


	15. Blood, freedom thirsty

 

Rin woke up coughing out the blood gathered on his mouth. The action made his chest and jaw burn, but he still coughed a few more times before he recovered his consciousness completely. He tried to change his position, but a terrible pain spread through his right arm when he leaned on it - in truth, practically every corner of his body hurt, and the bounds and the cold of the metal cage made everything worse. Panting, Rin looked ahead, and held back a scream of horror.

 

Few meters ahead, there was a woman also trapped- but her arms and legs had been amputated, and the few that there was left of her tights and arm had been tied to her back by a metallic bar attached to the stump of her members. A blindfold covered her eyes and a gag in the shape and size of a tennis ball muffled the groans that left her throat when she heard Rin move. He felt the bars of the cage against his back as cold as his body as he instinctively crawled away.

 

Suddenly, the noise of the door being wide open reached Rin’s ears, and he quickly feign to be still unconscious. Heavy footsteps resounded close to his head, however, the increasingly insistent noises of the woman on the next cage attracted the attention of however had just entered, and it gave up on Rin to approach her.

 

Rin waited, almost without breathing, the noises on the other cage to cease and the person to go away. When the noise returned, it was further behind him, and Rin was willing to risk. He twisted his neck as far as he could, in order to peek what was going on, and his whole body trembled in pure hatred when he saw the “other” Makoto put the woman on a stretcher. Being so vulnerable, he couldn’t help but be afraid, but Rin wished from the bottom of his soul to meet this man while he was free before he got arrested, just to punch his lights out. But since it wasn’t the case right now, he tensed. Even because, if the man just turned, he would see Rin staring, and he had the feeling it wouldn’t be any good.

 

The girl cried as Makoto started changing her bandages with the typical doctor’s coldness. Disgusted, Rin averted his eyes, focusing on their surroundings. Haru was right, this was different from everything he had seen before. Red curtains covered part of his vision of the room, but he still could see the workbenches and the bunches of creepy tools that adorned the laboratory’s walls and ceiling, as well as the several rag dolls scattered around. Strange to think a man like this would collect cute dolls, Rin thought bitterly. A certain black panel, divided in several parts, got his attention. Each part had a led, some on, some off, but one of them, that Rin noticed being bigger than the rest, were on.

 

Out of sudden, the girl writhed on the stretcher, making Makoto jump back and drop the tray with all the utensils on the floor. A scissors rolled towards the cages, and Rin froze- the doctor would for sure see him when he turn to pick it, and he didn’t have time to turn back anymore. He held his breath as the doctor’s eyes lowered. However, the mess seemed to disturb the girl even more, and she let out a loud and frightened cry, and that seemed to interest the doctor more than getting his stuff back.

 

“My, my, so you still can hear?” Rin took the chance to hastily return back to the original position “we’re gonna need to fix that, but not now. Now I don’t have time. You will be finished before day 15 so I can start my special doll”. He didn’t have any reason to be talking alone, so Rin concluded the only purpose behind this were to intimidate. If not her, then him. After all, the girl couldn’t run or resist anymore, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted to her, thought Rin was having difficult imagining what more could be done to the poor girl.

 

Rin thought about Haru, goosebumps creeping over his arms. If it was the destiny that waited for him, he wouldn’t survive. Surely not. Even if Rin could save him of this hellish place, without arms and legs to swim, Haru wouldn’t be able to endure. In truth, even Rin wouldn’t be able to endure seeing his friend on a state like this. The mere thought made him cringe in desperation, but he did his best to calm himself before the tremor on his members betrayed him.

 

The girl’s crying got louder till the sound of the door being shut indicated that the doctor had left. Feeling sick, Rin waited some more to be sure they were alone on the room before he started to try to free himself. He struggled with the tape around his wrist, but it only served to worse the pain on his arm. Then he tried with his teeth. The tape was resistant and the glue stick to his lips, but after a while of struggling he managed to rip it. For the first time on his life, Rin were thankful for having sharp teeth. He couldn’t manage to free his legs, but it wouldn’t be a problem- at least, he could already reach his pants.

 

Because, fortunately, this time he had the keys.

 

Minutes before they were cornered, when he dragged Haru by the hallway, Rin had picked the keys from his hands. He didn’t think much as he did it, and when their kidnappers found them, he hid it inside his pants. And luckily, it passed unnoticed. It wouldn't open the trapdoor, but if at least it worked on the cage, it would already be of great help.

 

As Rin pulled his body out, the first thing he did was throw a glance to the led panel. The biggest lamp was off. Without tearing his eyes away from it, he leaned on the wall to try to stand up, and his suspicions were confirmed when the led went on.

 

Motion sensor.

 

 _Nothing we do on this building will escape their eyes_ , he thought.

 

Very slowly, Rin started crawling towards the panel, keeping his eyes on the lamp. He imagined that, if the sensor wasn’t that good, maybe it wouldn’t catch a light movement- and to his happiness, it worked. When he got just under the panel, Rin depended on his arm’s strength to get up as fast as possible and grab on the panel edges, yanking it off the wall and shattering it on the ground. That done, he searched for the first sharp object in his reach and freed his legs.

 

Suddenly, the girl wailed, and Rin remembered her. He would have to get past her to leave the room. Rin couldn’t avoid the connection with Haru to surge again on his mind. What if, by the time Rin found him, it was already too late? If what he found there was like that woman? Mustering courage, he turned, a shiver immediately running down his spine as his eyes roamed over her mutilated body. But as the seconds slowly passed by, he started felling more pitiful than scared. When he stepped closer, her crying increase in volume.

 

“O-oi, be quiet! If they hear, we are scr....” Rin spoke carefully, and to his surprise, she seemed to understand it. “I am also here because of those bastards. They took away two of my best friends. One can still be saved, but.. I don’t know if I...”

 

Rin’s voice broke, and he stopped, feeling pathetic and surprised with himself. Damn, why was he saying those things? It wasn’t like she could help him, nor he could do much for her. He didn’t even knew if he alone could escape alive if he tried, and it would be even worse if Haru happened to be hurt.

 

The truth was he was scared. He was scared of what he would find if he sunk deeper on this nightmare, so he was there lingering and opening up to a complete stranger.

 

The girl groaned lower this time, and Rin raised his head. Hesitating a bit, he starting taking off the gag and all the paraphernalia off her face, suppressing a shiver as his fingers brushed over her gum that had not a single teeth at all. And when he took the blindfold off, her pupils were white. However, contrasting with his, her breathing had calmed down and were almost imperceptible now. Till Rin couldn’t notice it anymore.

 

“ _I’m sorry_.”

 

Rin stood up. His hands were shaking in pure hatred, and determination filled his soul.

_Hang in there, Haru._

_I swear I’m gonna kill those motherfuckers._

 

After gathering a roll of silver tape and all the sharp objects he could carry, Rin escaped to the hallway, managing to maintain a certain subtlety despite the emotions burning his soul. He stopped the first person he found, pushed a scalpel against his throat and dragged him to a corner, commanding him to stay quiet.

 

“Where’s Haru? Blue eyes, black hair.” the man opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. “don’t you dare to lie to me.”

 

“Surgery room number 3. Downstairs.” Satisfied with the answer, Rin ignored the man’s protests and dragged him back to the room, tying him with tape. The man screamed as he saw the woman’s body the moment Rin kicked him inside.

 

“If you lied, we’re gonna settle this later” The priority now was to get as soon as possible to said room, as they probably had motion sensors or even cameras on the corridors too, and Rin knew it wouldn’t take long until they came after him. By the time he broke into the surgery room, Rin was ready to fight, but there weren’t anybody inside- anybody, besides Haru. Under the blinding cold light, he looked paler than Rin had ever seen him. A white sheet covering him till chest height. A wave of relief invaded Rin to see he was apparently unharmed, but the relief didn’t last long, because as soon as he got closer, Rin saw the giant bandage covering half of Haru’s belly. Rin fell on his knees.

 

“Haru! Haru! Haru!” Rin took Haru on his arms, desperately looking for any sign of life on him. A tear dropped on his face, and Haru winced. His eyelids trembled, and hesitantly, he opened his eyes, assuming a surprised expression.

 

“Rin? What are you doing here?” Haru tried to get up, but a terrible pain spread thought his body as soon as he moved.

 

“O-Oi, slower!” Rin helped him stand, and noticed Haru was staring intently at something on his arms. It was only then that Rin noticed the dotted line drawn above both his elbows.

 

“Rin, what’s this?”

 

“Forget it, we need to go!” Haru would need real doctors. The anger and everything else Rin was feeling would need to wait. “can you walk?”

 

Haru stared at him for a long instant, and his eyes were enough answer. _No._

 

Without hesitating, Rin put Haru’s arm around his shoulder, helping him walk to the door. But as soon as they left the room, they saw a group coming to their direction. Rin dragged Haru with him to the hallway, proceeding to try every doorhandle in front of him till one gave in under his touch. The man sitting peacefully on his chair barely had time to react as Rin pointed the scalpel blade to him, closing the door behind them.

 

“Don’t speak” Rin hissed, and the man, confused and shocked, obeyed. Haru leaned his back against the door, his body shaking due the intense pain he was feeling. The three exchanged nervous glances as the sound of footsteps passed outside the door.

 

“Go” Rin motioned to Haru, not daring to give his back to the sitting man. But as soon as he turned to leave, the man slid his hand on the drawers behind him and pulled out a gun. Haru pushed Rin out as the bullet exploded the plastering on the wall next to their heads. They ran as fast as they could, but when they reached the stairs, it just took them a second of listening to know there were people on the floor above.

 

“Fuck, what do we do now? The trapdoor is up there. Any ideas, Haru?”

 

Haru was leaning against the wall, barely managing to keep himself standing. However, his eyes were bright.

 

“This way.” Rin obeyed without questioning. Instead of going up, they went lower and lower on the building. Haru stopped on a heavy, metallic door, and threw Rin an expectant look. Rin quickly fished the keys from his pocket and slid on the lock. As soon as they were inside, Rin understood why Haru had brought them there.

 

It was the sound of water.

 

Despite the bad memories dancing around his mind, Haru advanced on the darkness till his hands touched the wall and something cold. It was a big and heavy hatch. Like one from a ship. Haru tried to open it with his hands, and Rin came to help.

 

Indeed, what they saw when they opened were lots of dark water. Sewage, but maybe it ended on a river or something. Rin wrinkled his nose.

 

“Are we really going to swim in it?”

 

“We have no option” Haru spoke, serious. They heard a noise outside, and exchanged glances.

 

“Ok” Rin took a deep breath “on three.”

 

However, in the moment he were supposed to dive, Rin pulled Haru, making them both hit the water with a thud and sink on the murky waters.

 


	16. After the storm, comes the...

_A small girl licked her lollipop peacefully on the hotel's porch. In her head, if she watched for long enough between the bushes and the unkempt lawn, sooner or later she would spot a rabbit._

 

_In truth, far from Iwatobi, and perhaps due a special bad luck of the owner, wild animals were in fact more common there than customers. On that day, however, apparently there would be an exception. The girl quickly ran inside as she saw the two dead-looking teenagers getting closer._

 

_Rin only had strength to lay Haruka down on the hotel's porch before collapsing on the floor besides him. Haru had been out for a long while now, but at least, he was still breathing. Rin, on the other hand, was completely exhausted and sore for having carried him for so long. Find that hotel in the middle of nowhere felt like a miracle, however, it was still too early to rest. He took a deep breath before reuniting the courage to get up and check on Haruka._

 

_As soon as he sat up, his eyes met the ones of a man standing still on the doorway, watching them with the expression of the purest horror over his face. Well, Rin was fully aware his appearance wasn't at it's best at the moment._

 

_"Please" he asked as politely as he could "I need a phone."_

 

_The man hesitated for a second before disappearing thorough the door._

 

_Rin turned his gaze back to Haruka. His expression was serene, what at first sight made him look as if he were just sleeping deeply. However, under the daylight they had been denied on the laboratory, Rin could now see his injuries clearly, and though they weren't as numerous as his own, it was disturbing to imagine how each one should have been inflicted. The giant bandage that covered half of Haru's stomach was wet and started to come off, but Rin thought it was better to not touch it. He gently rubbed his finger along his cheek, wiping a dirty waterdrop that insisted on running down. Seeing him so fragile, so different from the Haru he knew and admired so much, caused him a weird feeling; a mix of pity and empathy, but above it all, the deep hatred engraved on his soul for those who made it all happen. Each face, each voice still so vivid on his mind, that made him grit his teeth and be dominated by an violent impulse he didn't know he had before it all began._

 

_And oh, it wouldn't go away so soon._

 

_Some minutes later, the man returned, bringing an antiquated cellphone and a giant pile of face towels - besides a big one, that after an embarrassing exchange of glances, Rin discovered to be to cover Haru. The last thing he was concerned right now was with Haruka's nudity, but in respect to his friend and in order to avoid an argument with the hotel's guy, he put it over his body. That done, the man went back inside without offering any more help._

 

_Probably, he would call the police, Rin thought. But he hoped to be far away from there when they came._

 

_"Hello, Gou?" he gave her only the time to gasp in surprise before quickly adding "I have no time to explain right now. Just send somebody to pick us. I'm with Haru."_

 

 

\--------------------

 

 

It was night and they were in a pool.

 

It was an indoor pool, like Samezuka's, but it must have been any other or Rin wouldn't be breaking into it along with them. The moonlight timidly entered the building, coloring the white and bright blue walls with a greyish blue. Makoto helped Haru to pass through the window, and his hands lingered on him more than necessary, as if asking for patience. Haru simply ignored him.

 

And then, even before everyone entered, he dived. The lukewarm water embraced his body, and he relaxed, allowing that good feeling to swell and take him over.

 

_Don't live out of pride, my little Haru, because today they call you a prodigy, but tomorrow, they will find another one to admire, and you will be nothing more than an ordinary person._

 

And he agreed.

 

Haru felt a presence join him on the water, and imagined it was Nagisa. He was so intoxicated by the pleasure it took him a minute to notice there was something wrong with this feeling.

 

_Oh, for how many years Haru had been waiting for this tomorrow to come._

 

When he opened his eyes, Haru found himself surrounded by horrible creatures, like he had never seen before even on nightmares. Something grabbed his ankle, and before he could flee, slimy tentacles wrapped around his body, squeezing and suffocating him. One of the suckers glued to his arm divided into several branches, sharp as needles, and penetrated on his skin, making him open his mouth in a silent cry of agony. Squirming, by the corner of his eye Haru saw another monster approach him, rows of pearly white teeth wide open to swallow him, but with a hard hit, he managed to loosen the grip around him and more than fast jumped out of the pool, coughing and crawling as far away from it as he could.

 

But, as he embraced his own body, Haru was suddenly shocked, because it wasn't anymore his body from minutes ago, but his children body- the small body from when he was still on elementary school, on his old swim club. Scared, he looked around, searching for the others, but when he found Nagisa and Makoto, the look they had on their faces didn't bring him any comfort.

 

_The curious and maternal look Haru hated so much._

 

_All he wanted was to be ordinary; to be looked like his presence didn't have any special meaning, like if he was just another stranger, without talent, without beauty, not owning anything to anyone._

 

_Free._

 

_And he made himself believe it was just a matter of time._

 

_Too bad that, in his innocence, little did he know life is an eternal cycle where nothing really changes, and history always repeats itself._

 

Suddenly, Rin emerged from the pool in front of him, blocking his vision. Thick waterdrops ran down his naked torso as he pulled crimson hair back, and something in the _wild_ look he had on his eyes made Haru cringe further. But he ignored the expression on the wide blue eyes, and strode towards him, till he got down on his knees and _kissed him._

 

A tremor shook Haru head to toe. Shivering, he tried in vain to push Rin's lips away from his, but only felt him push him deeper, the heavy hand leaning on the moist skin of his stomach keeping him still.

 

_The glances._

 

_The applause._

 

_The sighs._

 

_Wanting to imitate him._

 

_To control him._

 

_To rape him._

 

_To give use him for their own pleasure, like a circus animal, an white mouse._

 

When Rin finally removed his hand and let him go, Haru saw, horrified, that his belly was now swollen and rounded, disproportional to his childish body, his navel an small budge on top of it. He violently pushed Rin away, panting, shaking.

 

_Like seahorses?_

 

He wrapped his arms around his body again, trembling from fear and embarrassment, and dashed through the pool's edge. He threw a look of agony to the window from where he entered, now completely out of his reach. Desperate, he searched for the double doors, running towards it as fast as those small legs could take him.

 

_You will never be free, Nanase._

 

And all he knew was that this place looked like a kitchen; by the cold moonlight, he could see the walls unprovided of any way out, and it took him just a glance to the narrow windows on the top to know he wouldn't pass through it with that belly. On the counter, there was a single option to his despair, it's silver glow looking dreadfully comforting.

 

A giant butcher knife.

 

Haru jumped as he heard a noise coming from the other side of the door. He took an hesitant step back.

 

His fingers wrapped around the knife's handle, and he leaned it on his belly.

 

_You will never be free, Nanase._

 

A scream erupted from Haru's throat as he violently pushed away the person leaned above him. Nagisa stopped with his hand in mid air, in utter shock.

 

The most complete silence fell over the three boys around the hospital bed, all too startled by Haruka's sudden reaction to say anything.

 

Rei, Nagisa and Makoto. They were all there, their faces normal as they had even been. However, what Haruka felt wasn't relief, but panic, growing inside of him each second as he ran his eyes over white walls, the metallic bed, the IV bag, and every other thing that reminded him in such vividly way of _hell._

 

"Haru-chan..."

 

"Don't touch me!" Haruka cringed as far as he could from Nagisa, supporting the upper part of his body on his elbows. Fear, was all he felt, so intense that the pain intensified by the rough moves barely felt relevant. The other three exchanged glances. Nobody had the slightest idea of how to react; no one had ever saw Haru look so frightened. They kept staring at him foolishly in a state of inertia till Haru, exasperated, put his legs out of the bed and started to try pulling the needle off his arm, releasing though a loud groan as soon as pain exploded on his belly as he tried to stand.

 

"Y-You can't, Haru!" Makoto pushed him back to the bed, trying to stop him in the gentlest way possible. He grabbed the hand with which he tried to pull the needle, and felt him tremble under his touch. His bright blue eyes were wide in fear, but he didn't seem to be seeing or hearing anything at all "please, calm down! We are on Iwatobi's hospital, and nobody will hurt you anymore. Everything is fine now, Haru."

 

It lasted only a few minutes, but the tension felt almost palpable in the air by what seemed hours, as they patiently waited for Haru to calm down. Makoto remained unwavering, though his own heart was beating strongly. Rei and Nagisa didn't dare to breathe. However, Haru indeed stopped trying to get up, and _veeery_ slowly, he seemed to relax. The tension was still present on his body, but his breathing was already lower and calmer. He slid his eyes through each one of his friend's faces suspiciously.

 

"Where's Rin?"

 

"Rin-chan is in another room, with Gou-chan." Nagisa answered, holding back his own excitement. He had been waiting to suffocate his friend in a hug as soon as he was awake, however, he didn't wanted to scare him again.

 

"Don't worry, he's awake" Makoto added as he noticed Haru's expression. He softly nodded in understandmend. Then, carefully, he leaned back on the pillows, cringing a bit as the pain threatened to come back in light pangs. He watched with very much attention the careful way in which Makoto moved to fix the bed sheet he had thrown aside, and him, when noticed the persevering look, offered him a reassuring smile. Haru, though, didn't returned it.

 

"We're so happy you're back, Haruka-senpai" Haru didn't know how to respond to Rei's shaken statement. As his mind cleared, as far as it was possible by the medication he received, the realization of the place he found himself in slowly fell over him. He wouldn't question how he and Rin ended up there, because it was easy to guess- thought all he remembered after falling on the anesthesia induced sleep, still on the laboratory, was vague and confusing like in a dream. But he remembered seeing Rin cry, of being pushed by him on dirty waters and swimming in them before blacking out, and also of hearing him talk to a stranger before the ambulance's sirens surged hammering on his ears. It was enough, and he had no special curiosity in knowing more in this matter. What mattered right now was that he was on _Iwatobi's hospital_ , and this knowledge alone was bothersome enough considering the environment he had been trapped into. But there was something bothering him more at the moment.

 

In the instinctive move of pulling his legs closer, Haru felt another pang hit his stomach, and his fingers tightened the grip on the bedsheets.

 

_The surgery._

 

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and a young nurse entered the room. Her features looked gentle and joyful, but almost instantly, all color disappeared from Haru's face. But with all the eyes turned to her, nobody noticed it immediately.

 

"Hello, I came to give the results of your exams. It's so good to see you're awake" she gently said "Wow, what beautiful blue eyes you do have!" Haru felt as if the world around him stopped spinning. _They know_ , he thought, and it didn't cross his head to make the slightest effort to hide the panic visible on his face. He barely had time to process what happened, and it was already too late to have any control of the information. And thought rationality screamed it wouldn't make any sense to believe that woman's words could come true, the feverish part of his mind vividly saw the nurse uttering those same hateful words with almost the same pleasure she did, and the looks of his friends filled with disgust and shock as he drowned himself in shame.

 

Makoto (that were still holding Haruka's hand, he recalled suddenly) felt the tension on his friend's body, and looked from him to the lady, confused. He was unable to understand what was scaring him so much, but just in case, he tightened the grip on his hand.

 

"Do we need to leave?" Rei asked, feeling slightly bashful.

 

"It's not necessary" the nurse browsed thorough the papers on her hands in order to recall the details she needed to mention "the radiography and blood tests didn't present anything out of normal, and the wounds aren't serious. However, the cut on your belly was specially deep, and you possibly will need some more time hospitalized just in order to prevent any healing problems. In the most, your health is fine."

 

The boys threw him relieved looks, but Haru still didn't show any signals of happiness or relief. He was lost inside his own thoughts again.

 

_Wait, what do you mean with 'cut'?_

 

It must have been an euphemism, because Haru was waiting for the worst of the news. For a moment, he thought she would add something more, but the nurse wasn't even looking at him anymore and already prepared to leave.

 

"Wait" Haru pronounced the words with apprehension, almost with shame "what’s inside... what happened... to my belly?"

 

His friends threw him confused glances. The nurse, on the other hand, smiled patiently as if comforting a child.

 

"We know of your case, Nanase, and I completely understand your fear. However, the first measure we take in cases like yours, and this have also been demanded by your friends, is to certify that any organ has been stolen or removed. But there's absolutely no reason to worry, because there's nothing wrong with your body; what you have is really just a cut, nothing more" she opened the door to leave, but stopped before completing in a playful tone "but you do need to rest a lot, ok? Don't even think about getting up. It wouldn't be nice if we needed to tie you to the bed, would it?"

 

 

\----------------

 

 

Despite the closed window blinds, the orange light of twilight still managed to sneak thorough the thin spaces between each slat and fill the white sheets with stripes of a pale-yellow color. Makoto watched Haruka's pouting face for some minutes before giving up on making him eat and putting the almost full plate on the bedside table. It was already late and the other two had already went home, promising to come back on the next day with lots of games so Haru could ward his boredom off. Well, all Nagisa's words, with the intention of lifting Haru's mood a bit. In truth, their wish was to spend the night there with him, but both Nagisa and Rei had classes early in the morning, and Rei made sure to drag him home soon- but it wasn't the only reason, Makoto knew. He had probably also noticed Haru didn't seem very willingly to have company.

 

Of course, none of them were offended by it.

 

"What's in your mind?" Makoto asked with curious sincerity, and Haru turned his blue eyes to him, bangs falling smoothly over his forehead as he lightly tilted his face.

 

"Nothing important" he muttered. Makoto sighed. The silence had never been so uncomfortable between them, but truth to be told, it would have been too naive for any of them to believe Haru would come back happy and commemorating. Makoto felt a bit stupid considering this now, truth being none of them had really thought about this part. But Haru's behavior with Nagisa, his injuries and even the bullet scar Makoto carried on his own belly were enough clues Haru must have went through pretty tough times. And if Makoto knew Haru as well as he though he did, all he wanted now was to curl on his corner and that others forget he existed. Haru wasn't like other people, and if nothing forced him to do so, he probably would never be willingly to comment about what happened with other people.

 

But the reactions he had shown until now concerned Makoto. Even now, he seemed to be so deeply lost in thought. He seemed... worried.

 

"How long has been since I disappeared?"

 

"A few weeks" Makoto let a muffled, humorless laughter escape his mouth "but to be honest... it feels like months."

 

Haruka straightened his back. He stared deeply into his friend's eyes.

 

"What happened to you?"

 

Makoto stared back at him, with the expression of a kid that, after having just broken the house's favorite vase, receives from an adult the classic question of _who did it_. Haru knew him equally well; it was obvious he wouldn't get out of this with an excuse. Furthermore, although they still didn't know how far one was aware of what happened with the other, Haru's question was rhetoric somehow.

 

And as if to assure Makoto of it, he could almost read the words in his eyes. _You can't lie, Makoto. Nor even a bit._

 

"I.. thought you were dead" Haruka added suddenly. He was angry. Makoto felt a twinge of regret.

 

"We were desperate when you disappeared" he admitted, running a hand through his hair "We had a single... well, I don't know if it can be called a clue, I think it was more like a guess? But when Rin and I suddenly got the chance to make something out of it, when we saw what we thought to be an unique chance to find you, Haru... we acted without thinking."

 

"And then not only Rin got kidnapped, but you almost lost your life" Haru spoke in a reprimanding tone, sounding extremely unpleasant. Makoto nodded softly.

 

"I speak for myself, but... to be honest, if what I did collaborated in any way for you to be here now, I don’t regret it at all" Makoto raised his head, a big smile on his lips.

 

"You are both idiots" Haru snorted, outraged. Makoto wanted to giggle, but it didn't take much for the tightness on his chest to return, and sadness took over his features again.

 

"Haru... what about you? What happened?" Makoto couldn't avoid the urgency in the end of his phrase; he didn't want to bring back any bad memories, but it worried him how Haru had the tendency of always keeping things to himself. And just like he expected, Haru seemed to get uncomfortable with his question. For a moment, he really considered the possibility that he really didn't remember it, as the nurse suggested, but he seriously doubted it.

 

"It... doesn't matter anymore" Haru turned his face to the wall, a clear signal that he didn't want to talk about it. Makoto shrugged. If Haru didn't want to talk, he wouldn't force it; it never had brought good results, anyway. He could bring the topic again when Haru was in a less sensitive state. He could only hope that if things got hard, Haru would leave his pride aside and not try to handle everything at his own, like happened countless times in the past.

 

"...I want to go home" Haru suddenly muttered, in a voice so low that it was almost only to himself.

 

 

\------------

 

 

Although Haru would never ignore his pride to the point of asking someone to keep him company during the night, he had to admit that, after Makoto left, the hospital room felt a thousand times scarier. At moments, he could swear his talk with the boys and the latest events had been just a hopeful fantasy, and in truth he was still in that place, waking up from surgery, that woman watching him intently on the darkness- and he pathetically curled himself on a ball, accidentally brushing his hands over his stomach only to move them away as if he had been burned when he felt the freshly changed bandage over it. And then, he asked himself if it wouldn't have been better if he had been a little less proud.

 

He couldn't stop thinking about the nurse's words. _Deep cut bullshit_ , he had been under surgery and he knew it. He wasn't buying such a bad story, thought it also seemed paranoid to think the doctors from there had any reason to be tricking him. Could he had been dreaming, then? Maybe, Haru thought in a sudden hope outbreak, Rin had came in time, and they really didn't have time to do anything. Maybe they had only opened the incision, remembered they had forgotten something important and stitched it back up again, and all he had was in fact a cut without any special meaning. Damn, he was in an hospital! They had examined him, and it there was anything inside of him- the thought gave him goosebumps- of course they would know, and they would have already made a fuss about it. _After all, the videos your classmates watch of people with bizarre things inside of their bodies must come from somewhere; and a pregnant man would be some pretty hot news._

 

Not that Haru believed at any moment that he could get _pregnant_ for real- the simple word made him want to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it, and if in his childhood the exact reason was unknown, now it was crystal clear. But there was simply no way a creature could grow inside the body of a man. He could even have a three branch inside his lungs or a giant parasite living inside his body, but never something like a _baby._ Not that these thoughts brought him any comfort.

 

As time slowly passed by, Haruka only felt worse. He buried his fists into the sheets, controlling the irrational but almost irresistible impulse of ripping the bandages off his stomach and disembowel his own stomach, only to make sure that he had really managed to get away; because something in the darkness mocked that he couldn't be that _lucky._ And then his mind was overcome by terrible images, by those men and the corpses with ripped bellies, and he had the wish to run to the nurses and beg them to examine him again and remove whatever they had put inside of his body, only to remember he would probably rather jump off the seventh floor than having a doctor touching him again.

 

In a certain moment, Haru heard a noise outside, and hide himself under the sheets.

 

Suddenly, the door opened with a loud noise, and Haruka almost - _almost-_ let escape an yelp sharp as a puppy's. However, as the light coming from the hall reflected on a bloody red lock, Haru immediately scolded himself for the exaggerated reaction.

 

"Haru? It's me" Rin spoke in a husky voice, pushing the door behind him and immersing the room back into darkness, expect for a small crack.

 

God, he looked terrible.

 

His right arm was in a cast , and the visible bits of his skin were all covered by purple, red and greenish bruises, besides countless bandages. A giant plaster crossed his face, over the cheeks and nose; his clothes, though, were tidy and in his typical fashion taste. _Gou probably brought those,_ Haru thought. He couldn't deny he was in part relieved in seeing him, however, his presence also made him feel even more uneasy. Not only Rin had seen him vulnerable and all those embarrassing things occurred between them, but the knowledge he now had of which role Rin were supposed to play in the so called experiment made Haru feel very weird and uncomfortable. Not to mention the dream, though it, he knew had nothing to do with reality at all.

 

"I don't think you can wander around the hospital like this" Haru grumbled grumpily. Thankfully, the blush coloring the top of his cheeks wasn't visible in the darkness, and Rin shrugged as he pulled the same chair Makoto had been sitting for himself.

 

"As if you cared about the rules" he pulled a strand of scarlet hair back, letting out an exaggerated sigh "I just wanted to see how you were doing. They don't tell us anything back in that room, plus, well... after that I don’t think I can trust doctors anymore."

 

Haru felt obligated to agree.

 

"Anyway, you look awful. You should be in bed."

 

"Oh, me?" Rin frowned, and for a second, his mouth made an upside down "v" that reminded Haru of a shark "easy to say for who spend the day sleeping. Now me, I didn't sleep a wink. You have no idea of how boring it is stay laying down on that room doing nothing the whole day" he faced the wall, seeming also a bit uneasy, and rubbed the back of his neck "I... also thought you could want some company."

 

"I'm not a kid" Haruka snorted. Rin opened his mouth to say something, but as he did, his face twisted in pain, and what left his mouth was a mix of a cough and a groan. They both kept silent for a while, just appreciating each other's presence.

 

"Rin. Why you did that?" Haru broke the silence, voice low but very serious. Rin raised an eyebrow "when we were escaping the laboratory, we were supposed to jump on the water and swim. But you grabbed me."

 

"Don't take me for a fool, Haru" Rin's ruby colored eyes narrowed "this is so cliche, and I noticed your true intentions! You wanted to play the hero and let me escape to stay there alone!”

 

"I'm not that nice" Haru averted his eyes, trying to not leave the truth so obvious "but I couldn't move my body, and your arm was broken. We simply wasn't in condition of pushing our luck."

 

"Your son of a..." Rin attempted to get up, but his body protested vigorously against it, and he was forced to sit back. He gave up on insisting on this issue and rubbed his face, sighing in frustration. It was always like this with him; be it what they wanted for dinner or a life risk, it was always useless to argue with the hard head Haruka.

 

"Anyway" Haruka added "there are certain people here that are worse than me when it comes to playing the hero" Rin blushed slightly. _Damn you, Makoto._

 

"Oi, Haru... now there's something **I** want to know" Rin started. His voice was now much lower and careful, as if he feared a reaction from the other "In a certain moment, you talked with that man about a certain ‘experiment’. What the hell does those people wanted with you, after all?"

 

Haru couldn't avoid the goosebumps that crept over his skin. He knew the question would come, but not so directly; and besides it, with Makoto, things were different, and though he wouldn't forget the issue, it was easy to convince him to just leave it aside. But Rin, oh, Rin was the embodiment of insistence, and he wouldn’t give up till he got what he wanted. _Haru knew it all to well._

 

"Haru" Rin called his attention back, and Haru found himself rubbing hands sweaty from pure nervousness on the sheets. His delay to answer was because he was coming up with some excuse, and Rin could see it as clearly as if looking to a glass surface. He could see Haruka's line of thought like never before, and suddenly, Haruka felt terribly exposed. _He never realized how much of a bad liar himself was._

 

And he got nowhere to run. _He really didn’t._

 

Because what Haruka ignored, was that Rin knew much more than he thought.

 

Rin realized that place was an human laboratory much sooner than Haruka; but till then, he could have been easily made to believe it was a case of organ thief or something of that kind. But there where two holes on this hypothesis, the first being the fact Haru had been a planned target and all the obvious difference of treatment- it was enough looking at his own body, covered in bruises and wounds, while most of Haruka's skin remained smooth and _untouched_ \- and the second, was that he had been on that _damned_ room and he saw that damned girl. But something he hadn't told, simply for believing it wasn't something worth mentioning, besides the pure and simple shame of mentioning something so... _dirty_ , was that they had collected more than just blood from him.

 

_Yeah, Haru, maybe your little head have been stuck on hot springs and in your fucking shower head way too long to realize that place smelled like sex in the worst way possible._

 

And of course, Rin hadn’t complained. It was something even simple to do (though in any way pleasurable) when the lives of someone important to him and his own were at stake, and they were decent enough to allow Rin to do it on his own. But for why the hell they would have any kind of interest in his sperm? His guesses were that, either those people had some pretty weird kinks, or were involved in some kind of forced prostitution without physical contact he had never heard about. When the fish Haruka ate were contaminated by drugs and he saw his friend submit to the purest sexual desire as he never imagine Haru could act in his life, he despaired, because the only thing that made sense for him was that they did that with the intention of raping him. And when, soon after, he was separated from him, he scolded, disturbed and almost begged for them to promise they wouldn't do anything of that kind. But in charge, there came the request, or better saying, the demand. And to him wasn't given even the right to ask what finality such a thing would have. About the mutilated girls, he could even see a reason, thought honestly he would rather be spared of this knowledge; he had heard about rich and surprisingly known men that were sick enough to pay lots of money to have this kind of monstrosity on their beds. But even following this line, how could they make money with his semen? It wasn't like he was a _fucking thoroughbred horse._

 

But thought those occurrences bothered him, the biggest cause of the headache he had back on his own room into the hospital was in fact due to the short talk between Haru and the surgeon, that seemed to be a clue completely impossible to fit into the puzzle he thought he had been successfully guessing till then. Because he heard more from their screamed conversation than the word "experiment", but he swore he must have heard wrong, because they didn't make any sense. Maybe it was some kind of code, since this same man seemed to enjoy calling Haruka "bunny" and that creep the fuck out of him; but he swore he heard the word "baby" in the middle of everything, and he didn't remember the exact phrase, but it wasn't a nickname and he recalled finding it so bizarre and having noticed very well how it made Haru furious. Plus, there was the disturbing fact Haru had been through some kind of surgery, or at least he thought so, from the fresh memory of the despair he felt in entering that white room to find him laying on the stretcher, livid as a corpse.

 

However, if Haru was a mind reader, he would be relieved in knowing the truth was so nonsensical Rin hadn't connected the dots.

 

"Don't try to fool me again, Haru" Rin was mad at how he tried to hide with those wide blue eyes glued to him, underestimating him like he was still a child, like he hadn't the right to know about this life, _like he hadn't been there too_ "I was there, I saw that son of a bitch shoot Makoto and I saw those fucking girls! What is this that you want to hide that can be worse than it all?"

 

"Then you know what they want to do with you, don't you?" Haru risked, trusting he didn't know anything about the pregnancy part. Deep inside, he hoped Victoria had at least done this favor to him and kept the secret.

 

"I know" he growled, this time getting up without minding the pain and towards the bed, so blind in fury he didn't even notice when he was too close, so close Haru could feel his hot breath in his skin "but I also know it wasn't **your** case, Haru."

 

_It may not be worse, but you certainly wouldn't give look at me with disgust if you saw me with a mutilated body . And I know how you all will look at me if I tell it. I bet you wouldn't be brave enough to tell if it was you, Rin._

 

_Truth to be told, I think I rather drown myself than see this expression on the eyes of any of you._

 

_Even more on yours._

 

"I-if you ask me one more time, I swear I will never look at your face anymore" thought Haruka's expression betrayed how frightened he was, his tone was aggressive, and Rin was taken aback. It was a completely stupid, childish blackmailing, made out of pure despair, but Rin nor even for a second doubted Haru was totally capable of something like it "anything that happened there die here. And if I find out you told someone, be it Gou or Makoto, or anyone else, I will hate you for the rest of my life, Rin."

 

Rin hesitated for a few seconds, in which Haru held his gaze with the most serious expression he ever saw him wear. And then, he gave in. Grumpy and **so** upset, but gave in, and Haru relaxed. He knew Rin hadn't gave up for real, but at least for some time, he could relax about this issue. When Rin noticed the position he was in, he masked his embarrassment and discreetly returned to his chair.

 

The atmosphere around them was terribly tense in the silence that followed. Any subject seemed just to unnatural or inadequate to starting a talk.

 

Haru suddenly felt very tired. The nervousness left his throat dry, and he barely noticed it. Thankfully, Makoto left the water bottle for him. Carefully, he leaned over the bed and stretched his body, with the intention of fishing the bottle from the bedside table, but as he did so, the pain returned, and the plastic slipped through his fingers.

 

"Oi, careful!" Rin hushed to catch the water bottle, in time before it poured all over his chest and the sheets. Haru muttered an apologize, but when he raised his eyes, Rin was standing before him, staring down at him with the irritation still present on his features, and the water bottle in his free hand. Haru blinked in confusion, and Rin, without saying a word, raised the bottle to his mouth with surprising tenderness, lightly pressing it to his lips as a consent request. In other circumstances, Haru would be mad for being treated in such a way, but maybe because he was so tired, or maybe it was the lethargy caused by the medicine, this time, he simply allowed it. Rin tilted the bottle slowly, watching his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed it's content. Till the water was gone, and Haru turned his head a bit, signing he was satisfied. Rin put the bottle down on the bedside table, and stood still for a minute, watching Haru lick by reflex a small waterdrop that escaped his lips. When he noticed, he stared back in innocence, and Rin just shrugged it off. He was too tired to try to guess the meaning on those blue eyes.

 

Suddenly, Rin fell over Haru's legs, burying his head into the space between them in the mattress. He tightly squeezed them.

 

"O-oi! Rin!" Haru complained, startled and surprised "what's with it...?"

 

"I'm just... happy" Rin replied without raising his face off the sheets "that we will be able to swim again."

 

Haru just watched dumbfounded as he cuddled the upper part of his body on the bed, seemingly to not care about what he was doing, and closed his eyes. _Simple as that._

 

Maybe after it all, they had ended up with some brain damage. Maybe. Haru thought could understand.

 

In truth, he was thankful for what everyone did for him. Thankful and admired.

 

Haru snuggled on the pillows, being cautious to keep his legs in a position that wouldn't bother Rin. He let his hands brush the sheets close to his face, to his long lashes, but didn't touch it. He wouldn't be able to relax so easily, nor to forget what happened. Even if he had indeed been that lucky, he wouldn't be able to forget the danger he had not only been, but put his best friends through- and he also wouldn't forget the fact that even if the experience failed, on that exact moment there might be that _thing_ of Rin inside of him, and this gave him goosebumps from both embarrassment and disgust, his only relief being he looked too tired to noticed those subtle reactions. But they were all alive, and he thought he should at least try to be thankful for it.

 

As for Rin, their relationship would get thornier, but there was nothing he could do about it.

 

_But anyway, it wasn't like we ever got along that nicely, uh?_

 

Suddenly, Haru remembered a thing.

 

"Rin...I'm sorry" he muttered in a shy voice, not knowing if he was listening or not "I won't be able to give your hoodie back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like it has already become an habit, but I apologize for the long wait! *bows* Life has been busy, plus I dedicated almost all of my free time in the last two months to... rinharuweek (◡‿◡✿) (just so you have an idea of how slow I am). If you have interest, please go check their tumblr! There are some pretty cute drawings and etc :)
> 
> Well, this chapter ended up being quite long, and I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. The biggest inspiration for it was the song "Fantasy", by Dye- a pretty bizarre video I remember watching once on my childhood, but now that I found it again, I'm absolutely addicted to it's beat. As always, critiques and feedback are hiiiighly appreaciated, both regarding the plot and my poor english (which as if wasn't bad enough, this person here decided to use all the idiomatic expressions of her native language she knows and almost dies in time to translate xD). But well, I hope you like it!~♪


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